Donald Trump's gag order in his D.C. elections criminal case should be upheld by an appeals panel in part because, absent such an order, the former president can do massive amounts of damage to the witnesses and the integrity of the case, a former prosecutor said on Saturday.
Trump flexed his new freedom to attack Judge Engoron's law clerk in multiple social media posts earlier in the day. He was previously barred from insulting court staff to protect their safety, but the order was temporarily stayed pending an appeal. His D.C. gag order has similarly been paused.
Former federal prosecutor Shan Wu appeared on CNN Newsroom with Jim Acosta, and was asked whether he expects that the order will ultimately be upheld.
"I'm not sure. I think it should be upheld," he said, noting that "it's an example of the courts... really bending over backwards trying not to infringe on his rights."
"He shouldn't be attacking these people because one, it endangers them and two, it endangers the integrity of the case. The First Amendment restriction can be remedied later. He can talk as much he wants. Threats, harassment, violence can't be remedied and if I could shift to New York gag order, as soon as they lifted that stay, what did Trump do? He went right back to attacking people and that kind of danger, you can't fix it later."
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Wu was further asked if he "ever had a client post on social media attacking a judge's clerk."
"No. First of all, it makes no sense to attack the clerk. Just nothing viable. Maybe you think the judge is biased. but particularly as a defense strategy, when it's a bench trial, the last thing you want to do is get on the wrong side of the judge. That's exactly what they're doing. Maybe they're still hoping to goad the judge into some outbursts but other than that, it's not a very good strategy at all."
