Former President Donald Trump (File Photo) Former President Donald Trump formally requested that a federal appeals court lift a gag order that a j
Former President Donald Trump formally requested that a federal appeals court lift a gag order that a judge had imposed in his alleged election denial case.
On Thursday, Trump’s lawyers asserted that the gag order, sought by federal Special Counsel Jack Smith and imposed by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, was unconstitutional and violates Trump’s First Amendment rights as well as those of the “over 100 million Americans who listen to him.”
“The prosecution’s request for a Gag Order bristles with hostility to President Trump’s viewpoint and his relentless criticism of the government — including of the prosecution itself,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in a court filing. “The Gag Order embodies this unconstitutional hostility to President Trump’s viewpoint.”
Trump’s lawyers vowed to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court if the appellate judges denied his request.
As the Tampa Free Press reported on Monday, Trump promised the appeal was coming after Chutkan, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, re-imposed the order on Sunday.
Her original mandate forbade Trump from publicly commenting on Smith and his staff, defense counsel, court staff, and witnesses. The judge declared that Trump was still free to make statements about other aspects of his election campaign.
Yet the judge felt compelled to reimpose the order after Trump made comments about the process and its players. As one example, he called his own former White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, a “weakling” and a “coward” after reports emerged that Meadows had testified against him.
In response, Trump on Monday wrote on Truth Social, his social media platform, “I have just learned that the very Biased, Trump Hating Judge in D.C., who should have RECUSED herself due to her blatant and open loathing of your favorite President, ME, has reimposed a GAG ORDER which will put me at a disadvantage against my prosecutorial and political opponents.”
“This order, according to many legal scholars, is unthinkable! It illegally and unconstitutionally takes away my First Amendment Right of Free Speech, in the middle of my campaign for President, where I am leading against BOTH Parties in the Polls.”
The American Civil Liberties Union supported Trump, arguing that the order violated Trump’s right to free speech.
In court records on Thursday, Trump’s lawyers argued that the witnesses have been unrestricted in their own criticism of the defendant.
“The ‘witnesses’ who supposedly might be ‘intimidated’ by President Trump’s speech,” his legal team said, “are former officials from the highest echelons of government who have repeatedly attacked President Trump and his fitness for the Presidency in public statements, national media interviews, and books.”
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