Judge Chutkan will preside over Trump’s January 6 criminal trial, scheduled to begin on March 4, 2024. The special counsel indictment explained Trump was charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, witness tampering, conspiracy against the rights of citizens, and obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding. The trial will be held in Washington. It will not be televised.

Last week, Judge Chutkan imposed a gag order, then a few day later, temporarily paused it, as Trump’s team argued for more time to appeal the gag order. The ACLU filed an amicus curiae (meaning friend of the court) brief arguing the gag order was vague and too broad. Special Counsel filed a brief for immediately re-imposing the gag order.

The trial is 3 months away, so all this is pre-trial motions. So, Judge Chutkan better order some extra strong glasses and coffee as the documents snowball!

To Trump haters, Judge Chutkan’s gag order seemed wonderful. Yet, this is a country where we don’t silence people for disseminating views we don’t like. Actually, Trump still retains most of his rights to free speech in these court cases. He can attack the whole trial as a witch hunt and political. The DOJ is fair game. He just can not target court staff, prosecutors and potential witnesses. See the Judge’s order below:

The Court therefore ordered that:
All interested parties in this matter, including the parties and their counsel, are prohibited from making any public statements, or directing others to make any public statements, that target (1) the Special Counsel prosecuting this case or his staff; (2) defense counsel or their staff; (3) any of this court’s staff or other supporting personnel; or (4) any reasonably foreseeable witness or the substance of their testimony.

Trump’s legal team will argue Judge Chutkan’s gag order is unconstitutional. The ACLU has sided with Trump in a filing to the court, alleging the gag order is both too vague and too broad. They argue because the order is too vague, Trump would not know if he has violated the order until too late. The ACLU brief took issue with the word “target” as too imprecise.

There is incredible irony of the ACLU defending Trump’s free speech rights as he has attacked everyone else’s right to freedom of speech or the press. He sued CNN for libel and slander and asked for 475 million dollars. In July 2023, this case was dismissed. And he launched another lawsuit against the New York Times, for their article on his finances. It was dismissed in May 3, 2023 and Trump has to pay the legal fees of the New York Times. Trump obviously abused his right to free speech, as he was found guilty of defamation in the E. Jean Carroll case and ordered to pay 5 million dollars in damages. A second trial will be held in January to determine if 10 million dollar more should be added to the damages.

So, I believe the ACLU had to hold their noses and stick to their principles in siding with Trump. They began the brief, stating:

“Former President, and now Defendant, Donald Trump has said many things. Much that he has said has been patently false and has caused great harm to countless individuals, as well as to the Republic itself. Some of his words and actions have led him to this criminal indictment, which alleges grave wrongdoing in contempt of the peaceful transition of power.”

OK, I would have been satisfied with just calling him a habitual liar. But they go on:

“But Trump retains a First Amendment right to speak, and the rest of us retain a right to hear what he as to say.”

An outstanding point. Restricting someone’s freedom of speech is depriving the public of a right to hear his views. And that is a core principle of democracy. Autocratic governments find ways to limit free speech, particularly over the internet or on cable news.

Yet, the Judge must ensure impartial administration of justice. The gag order is applied to all parties, including prosecutors, the defendant and the defense counsel. A fair trial means maintaining the right of prosecutors to present evidence and and the right of the defendant to demonstrate his innocence.

In this case, it is a balancing act of a rights to carefully crafted gag order. Otherwise, Donald Trump may use the power of social media, including Truth Social which he owns and cable news stations and millions of radical supporters to sufficiently intimidate witnesses and alter the outcome of the trial.

Link:

Stay tuned,

Dave

This is the response by Special Counsel Jack Smith