D.C. Judge Pauses Trump’s Gag Order in Election Interference Case
An appeals court will determine if the gag order is warranted after a Trump lawyer argued it violates the former president’s rights.
Alex Kent/AFP via Getty Images
The judge overseeing the federal election interference case against former President Donald Trump put a temporary hold on the gag order she issued against him earlier this week, giving time for an appeals court to determine its necessity.
Judge Tanya S. Chutkan on Friday granted the request of Trump lawyer John Lauro that a stay be put on the gag order after he argued in a filing that it constituted a violation of the First Amendment and is by nature “breathtakingly overbroad.”
In essence, the gag order handed down by Judge Chutkan on Monday prohibits Trump from targeting prosecutors, witnesses and court staff.
“This is not about whether I like the language Mr. Trump uses,” Chutkan said at the time. “This is about language that presents a danger to the administration of justice.”
Just hours later Trump went on a tirade against the Judge, telling a crowd in Iowa that her “whole life is not liking me”—likely violating the gag order.
Lauro argued on Friday that the order “violates virtually every fundamental principle of our First Amendment jurisprudence,” an infringement he characterized as “egregious and intolerable.”
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The order “eviscerates” not only Trump’s rights, Lauro argued, but those of “hundreds of millions of American citizens” who would be forbidden from listening to Trump’s thoughts on various issues.
Just hours after the filing, Judge Chutkan agreed to put a hold on the gag order for at least eight days while The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia hears the matter.
A date is yet to be set for the appeals court review of the matter, which is expected to occur by the end of next week.
Earlier on Friday, the judge overseeing Trump’s bank fraud trial excoriated him for violating a gag order in that case, hitting him with a $5,000 fine and threatening him with jail time should violations continue.
“In the current overheated climate, incendiary comments can and in some cases already has, led to serious physical harm and worse,” Justice Arthur F. Engoron said during his reprimanding of Trump and his lawyers on Friday, a rare instance of fury from the typically easygoing judge.
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