No matter the ruling on the gag order against Donald Trump, the former president comes out on top, a new report warns.
Trump has created a “win-win” situation for himself in the federal court battle over if and how one should gag a former president and leading White House candidate, “New Republic” journalist Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling argued Tuesday.
“If Trump wins the appeal, he’ll have an open floor to vilify Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the prosecution behind two of Trump’s criminal trials,” Quinlan Houghtaling writes.
“If Trump loses the appeal, it will effectively add a new weapon to his arsenal on the campaign trail, claiming that the state is preventing him from running for president again.”
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The gag order in question was issued by Judge Tanya Chutkan on Oct. 17 at the request of Smith, who has argued Trump’s furious social media posts — in which he’s dubbed the special counsel and his staff “election interfering thugs” — posed a physical threat to court officials.
After Smith filed his indictment in August, Chutkan received a death threat replete with gender and racial epithets.
But Trump’s lawyers rebutted Smith's motion in front of a three-judge panel Monday, arguing his was political speech protected by the First Amendment and the initial gag order was overbroad.
Judge Patricia Millet has said the appeals court judges must work to strike “a very difficult balance” when it comes to limiting Trump’s ability to speak to the public.
Should the judges reinstate the on-again off-again gag order, Trump could face fines and even jail time if he breaks the rules, according to an explainer from The Hill.
But that explainer comes with a caveat: “Judges can threaten gag order violators with fines or jail time, but jailing a presidential candidate could prompt serious political blowback and pose logistical hurdles.”
Or, as Quinlan Houghtaling writes, “Either way that the panel rules, Trump will likely come out on top.”
