Former US president Donald Trump has been banned by a judge in Washington from making public comments about those involved in the federal case in which he is accused of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election.
In a ruling from the bench on Monday, federal judge Tanya Chutkan imposed a limited gag order on Mr Trump. He will be free to continue to speak out about US president Joe Biden, the justice department and political opponents as long as his remarks are not directly connected with the case.
She said she would not allow Mr Trump to launch “a pretrial smear campaign” against people involved in the case.
“No other criminal defendant would be allowed to do so, and I’m not going to allow it in this case.”
The former president has pleaded not guilty in the case which is due to go to trial next year.
The imposition of gag orders are not uncommon in the US legal system. However, the situation in the Trump case is complicated as he is the front-runner to secure the Republican Party nomination to run for the presidency next year.
Prosecutors had argued they were not seeking to stop Mr Trump from campaigning in the election but contended that his comments about potential witnesses could lead to attempted intimidation by some of his supporters.
The judge’s order bans all parties from making statements “publicly targeting” special counsel Jack Smith, his staff, or any court personnel.
Statements about the families of those individuals are “absolutely prohibited as well”.
Mr Trump and other parties in the case are also banned from making statements about witnesses.
On Sunday Mr Trump hit out at Mr Smith, who has brought the prosecution against him, as “crooked” and “deranged”. In a post on his social media platform, he also said the judge should recuse herself.
“They want to take away my first amendment rights, and my ability to both campaign and defend myself. In other words, they want to cheat and interfere in the 2024 presidential election. Nothing like this has ever happened in our country before,” he said.
Mr Trump’s lawyer on Monday indicated that he would appeal any order restricting his client’s right to make public comments as it would affect “important free speech principles, particularly for a leading candidate for president”.
[ What could we expect from a second Trump term?Opens in new window ]
Judge Chutkan said Mr Trump could certainly claim he was being treated unfairly.
However, she said she could not imagine “any other case where a defendant is allowed to call the prosecution “deranged”, a “thug”, or anything else.
She said his presidential election campaign did not give him carte blanche to vilify public servants for simply doing their job.
The judge said “if any party or counsel violates these restrictions or other laws by which they are bound”, she would consider a motion, or make a motion herself, to “consider sanctions against those parties concerned”.
