A federal judge has barred Donald Trump from attacking witnesses, prosecutors and court staff involved in his Washington, D.C., criminal case, imposing a gag order that sharply escalates the tension between Trump's 2024 bid for the presidency and the realities of his status as a criminal defendant.
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“First Amendment protections yield to the administration of justice and to the protection of witnesses,” Judge Tanya Chutkan said Monday as she issued the gag order. “His presidential candidacy does not give him carte blanche to vilify … public servants who are simply doing their job.”
For Trump, it’s one of the first tangible consequences of his multiple brushes with the criminal justice system, in this case on four felony charges related to his effort to subvert the 2020 election. Chutkan has scheduled Trump’s trial to begin on March 4 and emphasized Monday that the date would not change.
“This trial will not yield to the election cycle and we will not revisit the trial date,” Chutkan said.
Complying with Chutkan’s order will require a significant shift in Trump’s public demeanor. He routinely uses his social media megaphone and rally speeches to assail his lead federal prosecutor, special counsel Jack Smith, as “deranged.” Trump also took to branding the lawyers working under Smith as “thugs.” Those comments, Chutkan said, risk poisoning the proceedings.
Trump, who opted to campaign in Iowa rather than attend the hearing Monday, has also in recent weeks pointedly attacked several known witnesses in the case. He suggested that one of them, retired Gen. Mark Milley, would have warranted the death penalty in another era, and he repeatedly blasted another, former Attorney General Bill Barr.
Acknowledging Trump’s broad right to weigh in on public policy issues as he pursues a second term in the White House, Chutkan nevertheless said that Trump could not launch a “pretrial smear campaign” against those who might testify against him. She said she would consider “sanctions” if she observed any violations. She did not elaborate on those sanctions, although she said she planned to issue a written order with further details.
The pronouncement raises the prospect that Trump could face punishment — ranging from restrictions on his use of social media all the way up to potential pretrial incarceration — if he continues to mount public attacks on Smith and his team or witnesses likely to testify in his March trial .