Former President Donald Trump's attorney John Lauro hit a snag in his effort to appeal the gag order against his client, reported The Messenger on Wednesday: a federal court has notified them he needs to be admitted to the court bar in order to do it.
"In a letter to Lauro on Wednesday, the clerk of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said Lauro must first join the court's bar before any of his filings are accepted," reported Darren Samuelsohn and Steve Reilly. "Our records reveal that you are not a member of the bar of this court," said the letter, adding, "It is the policy of the court that all attorneys appearing before it be members of the bar of this court. Our rules do not allow us to accept filings from attorneys who are not members."
"Lauro told The Messenger that this is a routine matter and that he plans to join the court's bar," said the report. “I’ve been a member of the DC bar and the federal trial court bar for nearly 40 years," Lauro told reporters. "This is a routine request from the federal appellate court to join its bar, which I will do in order to represent President Trump in this important matter.”
POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?
This comes after federal District Judge Tanya Chutkan approved the order earlier this week at the request of federal prosecutors. The order prohibits Trump from disparaging special counsel Jack Smith and his family, witnesses, and court officers in the case — but does not prohibit him from publicly discussing or disputing the case in general.
The hearing in which Chutkan made the decision went disastrously for the former president and Lauro, with Chutkan at one point laughing in Lauro's face after he said the gag order was unnecessary because the current restrictions on his client were "working."
Legal experts have suggested that Trump's appeal of the gag order is unlikely to succeed.
