If anyone 'won' the Trump protective order hearing, it was Jack Smith: experts

If there was a "winner" in Friday morning's hearing during which special counsel Jack Smith sought a protective order limiting Donald Trump from sharing information from the case, it was the government, former prosecutors say.

The judge ended up entering an order that was less expansive than Smith's team sought, but it also fell short of the Trump lawyers' expectations.

Former prosecutor Harry Litman said there was an "interesting divide among commentators" between those who say Trump's legal team prevailed, and those who believe Smith "won" today's hearing before Judge Chutkan.

"I vote for gov: it got more or less all it wanted and Chutkan's several admonitions to Team Trump were foreboding," Litman wrote Friday, referencing warnings from the judge.

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Former federal prosecutor Elizabeth de la Vega agreed.

"The gov't definitely 'won' today's hearing before Judge Chutkan, but the judge handled the matter so brilliantly that the defense would've thought they won," she wrote on Friday. "The order doesn't cover non-sensitive info, but the govt designates what is & isn't sensitive. Most material is sensitive."