The tension between former President Donald Trump’s 2024 bid for the presidency and the realities of his status as a criminal defendant has been ratcheted up a notch after a federal judge barred Trump from attacking witnesses, prosecutors, and court staff involved in his criminal case in Washington, D.C.
“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, Politico reported. “His presidential candidacy does not give him carte blanche to vilify … public servants who are simply doing their job.”
Special Counsel Jack Smith, who just got shut down by a federal judge, is now begging the judge presiding over the case against former President Donald Trump for 2020 election interference to protect potential jurors.
The ex-president was ordered to keep quiet after he made a public post on Truth Social about a law clerk during his New York civil fraud trial last week.
