Legal experts: Trump may have already “violated” gag order minutes after judge reimposed it

A federal judge on Sunday reimposed a limited gag order on former President Donald Trump barring him from targeting court personnel, prosecutors and potential witnesses.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing Trump’s election interference case in D.C., issued a limited gag order earlier this month but temporarily halted it after Trump appealed. Chutkan on Sunday reinstated the order after special counsel Jack Smith’s team called out the former president’s attacks on potential witnesses in the case on Truth Social while the order was paused.

“As the court has explained, the First Amendment rights of participants in criminal proceedings must yield, when necessary, to the orderly administration of justice—a principle reflected in Supreme Court precedent, the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, and the Local Criminal Rules,” Chutkan wrote. “And contrary to Defendant’s argument, the right to a fair trial is not his alone, but belongs also to the government and the public.”

Chutkan noted that at least one post by Trump, targeting former chief of staff Mark Meadows, would have “almost certainly” violated her gag order if it was in place at the time.

“The statement singles out a foreseeable witness for purposes of characterizing his potentially unfavorable testimony as a ‘lie’ ‘mad(e) up’ to secure immunity, and it attacks him as a ‘weakling and coward’ if he provides that unfavorable testimony—an attack that could readily be interpreted as an attempt to influence or prevent the witness’s participation in this case,” Chutkan wrote.

Prosecutors called Trump’s post targeting Meadows an “unmistakable and threatening message,” urging Chutkan to prevent Trump’s “harmful and prejudicial attacks.”

About an hour after the gag order was reimposed, Trump lashed out at former Attorney General Bill Barr, a potential witness in the case, on Truth Social, calling him “Dumb, Weak, Slow Moving, Lethargic, Gutless, and Lazy, a RINO WHO COULDN’T DO THE JOB.”

“With the gag order being reimposed, these posts will come under scrutiny again,” tweeted national security attorney Bradley Moss.

Former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance called Trump’s posts about Barr and Meadows a “continuing violation” of the reimposed gag order.

Trump also lashed out at Chutkan after the order was reinstated, calling her a “TRUE TRUMP HATER” with a “major, and incurable, case of TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME!!!”

“I have just learned that the very Biased, Trump Hating Judge in D.C., who should have RECUSED herself due to her blatant and open loathing of your favorite President, ME, has reimposed a GAG ORDER which will put me at a disadvantage against my prosecutorial and political opponents,” he wrote in another post.

“This order, according to many legal scholars, is unthinkable!" he claimed. "It illegally and unconstitutionally takes away my First Amendment Right of Free Speech, in the middle of my campaign for President, where I am leading against BOTH Parties in the Polls. Few can believe this is happening, but I will appeal. How can they tell the leading candidate that he, and only he, is seriously restricted from campaigning in a free and open manner? It will not stand!”

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Trump’s team is appealing the order.

“Judge Chutkan is on solid legal ground,” wrote former U.S. Attorney Barb McQuade. “She could gag Trump completely if she wanted to. Instead, she has given him wide latitude to criticize Biden, DOJ, and even her. Trump just can’t target parties and witnesses outside of court.”