Former President Donald Trump responded to the new gag order recently placed on him by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, calling it an “unthinkable” assault on his First Amendment rights.
On Sunday, Chutkan, who has been overseeing the case regarding Trump’s alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election in Washington, DC, reinstated a narrow version of the gag order that would bar the former president from making “public comments targeting prosecutors, court staff and potential witnesses,” according to the Associated Press.
The outlet noted:
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is presiding over the federal case charging Trump with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election, had temporarily lifted the gag order as she considered the former president’s request to keep it on hold while he challenges the restrictions on his speech in higher courts.
“But Chutkan agreed to reinstate the order after prosecutors cited Trump’s recent social media comments about his former chief of staff they said represented an attempt to influence and intimidate a likely witness in the case,” it added.
Trump responded to the order in Truth Social post on Monday:
I have just learned that the very Biased, Trump-Hating Judge in D.C., who should have RECUSED herself due to her blatant and open loathing of your favorite President, ME, has reimposed a GAG ORDER which will put me at a disadvantage against my prosecutorial and political opponents.