A gag order in Donald Trump’s election interference case in Washington is back in place, restricting the former president’s inflammatory rhetoric as he prepares for trial and campaigns to return to the White House in 2024.
A gag order in Donald Trump‘s election interference case in Washington is back in place, restricting the former president’s inflammatory rhetoric as he prepares for trial and campaigns to return to the White House in 2024.
Trump’s lawyers are vowing to fight the order in higher courts, setting up a legal battle over what restrictions can be placed on the speech of a defendant who is also running for America’s highest public office.
Here’s a look at what’s allowed and what’s not under the gag order and what’s expected next:
For example, a recent post about Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows, a likely witness, “would almost certainly violate the Order under any reasonable definition of ‘targeting,’” the judge wrote. That post was in response to an ABC story that said Trump’s chief of staff was given immunity in the case and testified before a grand jury. Trump suggested that those who give statements to prosecutors are “weaklings and cowards,” adding, “I don’t think that Mark Meadows is one of them but who really knows?”
The judge wrote that the insinuation that Meadows would be a coward if he provides testimony that could hurt Trump “could readily be interpreted as an attempt to influence or prevent the witness’s participation in this case.”
Trump, a Republican, also went after his former Attorney General Bill Barr, another likely witness, in a social media post late Sunday, referring to him with adjectives such as “Dumb, Weak, Slow Moving, Lethargic, Gutless.” The post may have violated the order, but it’s unclear if Trump knew it had been reimposed at the time. At the time of that post, only a brief and general notation indicating the restrictions’ reinstatement was made on the online case docket. The order itself was not posted online until several hours later.
Yes, plenty.
The gag order does not prohibit Trump from airing general complaints, even incendiary ones, about the case against him.
