The eldest Trump progeny have been their own sideshow during their dad’s New York fraud trial. Don Jr. actually got flirty during the course of testifying, Eric claimed to be just a rando “construction guy,” and Ivanka tried (and failed) to claim that her kids’ school run keeps her from coming to court anytime between Mondays and Fridays. Meanwhile, Donald Trump Sr. is still so upset — about one of his other trials for election interference — that U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan (who is located in D.C.) had the nerve to reinstate a gag order upon his glorious (ex)-presidential rhetoric and lies.
Chutkan did so on the grounds that Trump’s previous attacks on certain individuals (who have with material knowledge in this case) resulted in harassment and threats from the MAGA faithful. The judge declared that this trial involves all U.S. citizens’ free speech, not simply that of Trump, which is important in terms of not making witnesses feel intimidated and threatened during the pursuit of justice. So, Chutkan stood firm in her decision. As a result, Trump’s latest batch of lawyers are attempting to run around in circles for the guy, lest they end up witnessing some ketchup-bottle fury.
Via Forbes, Trump’s ranting voice is so “uniquely powerful” in maintaining “the American fabric,” that he must be allowed to speak. Here’s language from the Trump lawyers’ filing:
President Trump’s uniquely powerful voice has been a fixture of American political discourse for eight years, and central to the American fabric for decades.
The prosecution’s claim that his core political speech suddenly poses a threat to the administration of justice is baseless. The prosecutors and potential witnesses addressed by President Trump’s speech are high-level government officials and public figures, many of whom routinely attack President Trump in their own public statements, media interviews, and books.
That’s not all. Trump’s lawyers argue that his “modes of expression resonate powerfully with tens of millions of Americans.” And they attempt to establish Trump as some kind of freedom fighter who is being held back by the prosecution’s “hostility to President Trump’s viewpoint and his relentless criticism of the government.” They maintain that this hostility — the attempt to prosecute a defendant for dozens of alleged felonies — is “unconstitutional.”
The filing also reveals that Trump, if not successful in this attempt to contest the gag order, plans to appeal all the way to the Supreme Court, and of course he does — he tipped the balance of that court all by himself. What a tangled Trump web he has weaved/woven.
UPDATE: The hits to Team Trump keep coming. Now, Judge Arthur Engoron (of the civil fraud trial) has expanded the gag order regarding his courtroom proceedings to Trump’s lawyers. He, too, speaks to the value of keeping non-Trump parties safe from the MAGA masses. Via CNN:
“Since the commencement of this bench trial, my chambers have been inundated with hundreds of harassing and threatening phone calls, voicemails, emails, letters and packages. The First Amendment right of defendants and their attorneys to comment on my staff is far and away outweighed by the need to protect them from threats and physical harm,” the judge wrote.