Trump Gagged Some More
Somebody's got a kink.
Recently, New York Judge Arthur Engoron had to partially gag Donald Trump in his civil financial fraud case, because Trump was trying to intimidate the judge’s staff and spreading lies that his clerk was Chuck Schumer’s secret paramour girlfriend. It was a start. It’s nowhere near what Trump deserves, the way he is constantly tampering with and attempting to intimidate/influence witnesses, judges and jury pools. (By the way, Jose Pagliery has a piece in the Daily Beast today on all the other shit Trump’s team is pulling in New York to try to turn that trial into an absolute fuckshow. Worth a read.)
But this story is about Trump’s federal felony indictments in DC, which are different from his federal felony indictments in Florida, which are different from his state felony indictments in Georgia.
There, US District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan has now partially gagged Trump, after a hearing this morning where she literally laughed in Trump lawyer John Lauro’s face when he tried to assert that the current rules are working fine, therefore no gag order needed.
The gagging is “limited” and “narrowly tailored,” says the news. He is not allowed to “[make] public statements attacking the witnesses, prosecutors or court staff involved in the federal criminal case in which he stands accused of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election.”
This will leave him free to — bless his heart — speak freely on matters pertaining to his 2024 presidential run.
Yes, aliens from the future, the man who is on trial for trying to overthrow the Republic and overturn the election he lost in 2020 is the leading presidential nominee for one of the major political parties for 2024. Yes, this is allowed.
The New York Times continues:
But the narrowly tailored order by the judge […] left Mr. Trump free as he pursues his presidential campaign to continue disparaging the Justice Department, President Biden and other political adversaries so long as the remarks are not directly connected to the case.
Wouldn’t want to trample on his precious rights. He is additionally allowed to attack Mike Pence, but not on anything specifically related to the case. So if he starts getting excited about people yelling Hang Mike Pence again, it better be for a DIFFERENT REASON MISTER.
Also:
She also apparently left Mr. Trump free to personally attack her.
The judge did not immediately address how she will enforce her gag order. She merely said she would assess any consequences for Mr. Trump if and when he violates it.
Fabulous. This will go great.
He will obviously violate this if he hasn’t already. We just checked Truth Social and he’s babbling incomprehensibly and posting memes literally every minute, and also posting tributes to Suzanne Somers, but so far no attacks on the judge or the case since the order came down. That is of course subject to change at any time.
Anyway, here is a conveniently timed deep dive into Tanya Chutkan that came out in the NYT yesterday. Read or bookmark!
We do not know why Trump keeps engaging in behavior that gets him gagged. Maybe it is his kink, or maybe he is just the world’s worst defendant, a loser and a baby clown untrainable by his lawyers, a person who fails to measure up as a human in every single way you can imagine.
Maybe it is that.
Everybody would be better off if one of the judges in Trump’s criminal cases — obviously not the grossly unqualified hack one in Florida who apparently thinks she’s on his legal team — just locked him up pending his trial.
They can always give him credit for time served at sentencing.
Evan Hurst on Twitter right here.
@evanjosephhurst on Threads!
I have profiles those other places but I think I forgot how to log on.
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I continue to think we are setting a HORRIBLE precedent of allowing this maniac to roam free out of fear of his supporters. GOP politicians might be cowards, but the rest of us are not. The American judicial system can NOT embolden these morons any more than congress and the media already have because WE are the people who have to coexist with these mouth breathers. And trump never going to jail because we're supposedly "terrified" of these lunkheads just makes them peacock and puff up even more, which makes just about every place in the country more toxic and polarized. The feds need to enter his residence, slap the phone out of his hand mid-truth, help him off the toilet, and incarcerate him. The National Guard is more than equipped to handle any right-wing uprisings that might occur in the aftermath, and when the rest of the white supremacists see that the US military and white citizenry don't rise as one and join their revolution (as was probably promised them), hopefully they'll scurry back in the bushes and off the grid for good.
Please note that I deserve full credit for not making a single joke about gag-reflexes or lack thereof throughout this entire post.