August 11, 2023
Judge Tanya Chutkan just issues a protective order granting in part and denying in part special counsel jack smith’s proposal to restrain what former president trump can say when it comes to witnesses and evidence in his alleged election interference criminal case.
The Washington DC judge agreed with jack smith saying there is a need to limit the use and disclosure of “sensitive” material publicly to ensure that trump gets a fair trial but she disagreed with smith’s proposal for what the scope of what should be included as “sensitive”.
The 5-page protective order says all recordings, transcripts and reports of witness testimony should be considered “sensitive” and gave the government wide latitude to decide which records should be considered sensitive and therefore restricted. During today’s hearing about this issue, Judge Chutkan said yeah former president trump has a first amendment right, but that right is “not absolute” and as a criminal defendant, Trump is required to abide by the conditions of his release which includes not tampering with or intimidating witnesses. And that includes talking about them on social media, during interviews or even during campaign events.
So what can the former president talk about.
He can talk about the case in general, he can air his grievances about special counsel jack smith, and he can talk about information or records that are already publicly available or information that Trump’s own team has discovered. But there is a whole list of things he can’t talk about when it comes to new witness testimony and new evidence that has just come into the possession of trump’s defense team.
Now what makes this a little tricky is one of those witnesses is Trump’s challenger for the Republican presidential nomination – his former Vice President Mike Pence. This is not a “gag order” this is a “protective order” they are legally and practically two very different things. Protective orders are common in criminal cases and the judge says she’s going to be “scrutinizing” trump’s public comments very carefully to make sure he follows the rules when it comes to witness statements and evidence that are new to the Trump team. Judge Chutkan said trump is a “criminal defendant and he is going to have restriction just like every other criminal defendant.”
Trump pleaded not guilty to four felony charges related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election last week.
Read Judge Chutkan’s protective order here.
