The DC Circuit Court of Appeals largely upheld the so-called gag order placed on former President Donald Trump by U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan, with the order “affirmed to the extent it prohibits all parties and their counsel from making or directing others to make public statements about known or reasonably foreseeable witnesses concerning their potential participation in the investigation or in this criminal proceeding.”
Though restricted by the order from making public statements about (i.e., attacking) counsel in the case, Trump and his lawyers are not prohibited from attacking the Special Counsel himself — only his staff, as the language below carves the Special Counsel out of the prohibitions (“other than the Special Counsel”).
The text from the Appeals Court further reads:
“The Order is also affirmed to the extent it prohibits all parties and their counsel from making or directing others to make public statements about—(1) counsel in the case other than the Special Counsel, (2) members of the court’s staff and counsel’s staffs, or (3) the family members of any counsel or staff member—if those statements are made with the intent to materially interfere with, or to cause others to materially interfere with, counsel’s or staff’s work in this criminal case, or with the knowledge that such interference is highly likely to result.
DC Circuit Court of appeals upholds significant portions of Judge Chutkan’s gag order: Trump can't attack witnesses, court personnel (except the judge), special counsel's employees (but can attack special counsel). Trump remains free to engage in political speech. pic.twitter.com/wOeAodULKU
— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) December 8, 2023
Former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance notes that Trump is also permitted to verbally attack “the judge” and “engage in political speech.”
The latter is a particular challenge for enforcement, as Trump portrays the entire case against him as a political act, a premise that renders his commentary on it — in the view of his own counsel — political speech.
