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ancianita

(36,132 posts)
Mon Oct 16, 2023, 01:29 PM Oct 2023

More on the gag order, since there is no "SO ORDERED" Main Document filed on the docket yet.

Chutkan prohibited all parties in the case, including Trump, from
-- making or reposting any statements publicly targeting Smith or
-- his staff and the court or staff,
and prohibited statements about
-- witnesses or
-- their expected testimony.

Chutkan said Trump can
-- continue to campaign for the Republican nomination and
-- say he believes the case is politically motivated,
but Trump is not allowed to
-- “launch a pretrial smear campaign” to
-- intimidate or discredit witnesses or staff...


Other back-and-forth counsel statements leading up to the above limited gag order:

Lauro said that prosecutors haven’t shown that any witness has been intimidated.
Chutkan noted that Smith has presented evidence of the effect of Trump statements on witnesses in other matters.

Most recently Trump suggested that former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley deserves to be put to death.

“This guy turned out to be a Woke train wreck who, if the Fake News reporting is correct, was actually dealing with China to give them a heads up on the thinking of the President of the United States,” Trump wrote on his social platform Truth Social. “This is an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH! A war between China and the United States could have been the result of this treasonous act.”

“We both know that the tweet or whatever it was about Gen. Milley was a threat and it was meant as a threat,” prosecutor Molly Gaston said...

...Lauro complained that President Biden would not be subject to a gag order. Chutkan responded that “Joe Biden is not a party to this case. He is not under release conditions.”

Gaston noted that the Justice Department isn’t asking that Trump not be able to campaign.

“He could criticize President Biden to his heart’s content, Your Honor, because President Biden is not a party to this case,” Gaston said...

...When Chutkan, who has repeatedly been the subject of Trump’s criticism on social media, questioned whether she should impose a similar order preventing Trump from targeting her or her staff, Lauro said that he would pass along her admonishment to Trump, and said that such a post would not be made in this case.

“The court’s instructions and admonition is heard by all,” Lauro said.

Gaston disagreed, saying a gag order is necessary and that there has already been a criminal threat to the court...

https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-10-16/judge-grants-gag-order-in-trump-2020-election-case
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