Donald Trump can still be restricted in what he says witnesses as well as lawyers and court staff, and their families, in his federal election conspiracy case, an appellate court ruled on Friday.
The three-judge panel largely upheld Judge Tanya Chutkan‘s gag order in the proceedings, with the exception that the restrictions do not apply to Special Counsel Jack Smith, a frequent Trump target who he has labeled “deranged.”
The judges also set parameters for the type of restrictions on Trump’s comments about attorneys and court staffers, writing that it applied in cases where his statements “are made with the intent to materially interfere with, or to cause others to materially interfere with, counsel’s or staff’s work in this criminal case, or with the knowledge that such interference is highly likely to result.”
Read the Trump appellate court ruling.
Trump’s attorneys argued that the gag order was an unprecedented restriction on the speech of a presidential candidate, violating his First Amendment rights and past court rulings that have set a high bar when it comes to banning political speech.
But the judges wrote that “even protected speech may, and sometimes must, be regulated when necessary to protect a compelling governmental interest, including the fair administration of a criminal trial.”
More to come.
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Source: DLine
