Former President Donald Trump has asked a federal appeals court for one silence order restricting his speech to those involved in the case in which he is accused of plotting to overturn his 2020 election loss.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan imposed the gag order on Oct. 16 at the request of the Justice Department and reinstated it on Sunday.
The order prohibited Trump from targeting Jack Smith, the special counsel who prosecuted his case, or witnesses who might be called to testify about his efforts to compensate for his election loss.
Trump said the judge has an “incurable case of deranged syndrome” and insisted the charges against him should have been postponed until after his campaign after he was placed under a gag order.
Trump’s lawyers say they will seek relief from the U.S. Supreme Court if the appeals court denies his request, arguing that the silence order violates Trump’s First Amendment rights and those of “more than 100 million Americans who watch him listen’.
Former President Donald Trump has asked a federal appeals court to lift a silence order that restricted his speech about those involved in the case accusing him of plotting to overturn his 2020 election loss
“Plaintiff’s request for a silence order is steeped in hostility toward President Trump’s position and his relentless criticism of the administration — including the plaintiff himself,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in court filings.
“The Gag Order embodies this unconstitutional hostility toward President Trump’s position.”
Chutkan temporarily lifted the ban on October 20 after Trump’s lawyers appealed, arguing that the silence order was vaguely worded, unwieldy and unnecessary.
Enforcing the gag orders appears to be complicated.
Trump has twice run afoul of a silence order imposed on him by Judge Arthur Engoron, who oversaw his civil fraud trial in New York, and has been fined a total of $15,000.
Engoron has warned of heavier fines, contempt of court and possible prison sentences.
“This court is well past the ‘warning’ stage,” Judge Engoron wrote last week as he imposed the initial $5,000 sentence, which he called “nominal.”
It is considered likely that Engoron will try every option before ending up in prison, which would be a nightmare from a logistical and political perspective.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan imposed the gag order on Oct. 16 at the request of the Justice Department and reinstated it on Sunday
Trump’s lawyers say they will seek relief from the U.S. Supreme Court if the appeals court denies his request, arguing that the silence order violates Trump’s First Amendment rights and those of “more than 100 million Americans who watch him listen’
“Plaintiff’s request for a silence order is steeped in hostility toward President Trump’s position and his relentless criticism of the government — including the Plaintiff himself,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in court filings.
The former president took aim at Chutkan on Monday morning, calling her a “Trump hater” in a tirade on his social media platform Truth Social, vowing to appeal and warning Joe Biden that he too will be indicted “one day.”
He also claimed that all criminal cases against him were deliberately initiated and coincided with the start of his campaign, and asked why prosecutors waited three years to file charges against him.
“The Obama-appointed federal judge in DC, a TRUE TRUMP HATER, is unable to give me a fair trial. Her hatred of President DONALD J. TRUMP is so great that she has a severe and incurable case of the TRUMP DISRUPTION SYNDROME!!! has been established,” Trump wrote.
“These highly political (all started by Crooked Joe Biden!) lawsuits and indictments should not begin until after the election is over! Our Founding Fathers look down on Biden with disdain!” he added.
“If they started the highly political Biden charges three years ago, everything would be over by now. THEY ARE WAITING FOR MY CAMPAIGN TO BEGIN!’
Donald Trump, pictured Sunday at a rally in Sioux City, Iowa, has been given a gag order by the judge overseeing his January 6 case in Washington DC
The gag order in Washington is separate from the order imposed by the judge overseeing his civil fraud trial in New York City.
Trump reacted furiously to Chutkan’s statement on Sunday.
“The corrupt Biden administration just took away my First Amendment right to free speech,” he wrote on Truth Social.
‘NOT CONSTITUTIONAL!’
Trump has in the past called special counsel Jack Smith a “deranged lunatic” and a “thug,” among other things.
Trump faces four criminal cases and has made disparaging comments about the prosecutors in each of those cases, as well as the New York state attorney general who has filed civil fraud charges against him.
Trump has denied guilt on charges that he planned to unlawfully interfere with the vote counting and block congressional certification of his 2020 loss to Joe Biden.