Former President Donald Trump turned heads at a rally on Monday after a federal judge placed a partial gag order on him at the request of special counsel Jack Smith during a court session in Washington, D.C.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the case involving charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol Building, issued the order after Smith’s team argued that Trump’s statements on social media and elsewhere endangered court staff, the court itself, and federal officers associated with the trial. They also argued that Trump’s words were an attempt to taint the jury pool ahead of a trial.
“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.”
But, during his Clive, Iowa, rally, Trump appeared defiant and even vowed, at one point, to go to jail in order to exercise his right to speak about his various legal cases as the 2024 campaign cycle heats up.
