By Katelyn Polantz, Holmes Lybrand and Paulu Reid | CNN
An appeals court has largely upheld the gag order against former President Donald Trump in the federal election subversion case, saying he can be barred from talking about witnesses as well as prosecutors, the court staff and their family members.
But the court said the gag order does not apply to comments made about special counsel Jack Smith, a change from the original gag order.
It is the second time in recent weeks appeals courts have found reason to limit what Trump could say publicly if it could amount to harassment; he has also been barred from attacking a court staff in New York as he and his company are in a civil fraud damages trial.
It is still possible for Trump to seek further appeals, even at the Supreme Court, on the gag order in the 2020 election federal criminal case. Separately, he has attempted to use various appeals to delay the March trial, with no success yet.
Friday’s lengthy opinion came from all three judges who heard Trump’s appeal at the DC Circuit Court nearly two weeks ago, and was written by Millett.
“Mr. Trump’s documented pattern of speech and its demonstrated real-time, real-world consequences pose a significant and imminent threat to the functioning of the criminal trial process in this case,” the appeals court wrote.
The court said that Trump’s campaign for the 2024 presidency “does not alter the court’s historical commitment or obligation to ensure the fair administration of justice in criminal cases.”
“We do not allow such an order lightly. Mr. Trump is a former President and current candidate for the presidency, and there is a strong public interest in what he has to say,” the court said.
“But Mr. Trump is also an indicted criminal defendant, and he must stand trial in a courtroom under the same procedures that govern all other criminal defendants. That is what the rule of law means.”
Court cites Trump’s attacks on Meadows and Pence
In explaining their decision, the appeals court pointed to the former president’s many public statements and attacks against witnesses in the case, including former chief of staff Mark Meadows and former Vice President Mike Pence.
The court said that such statements “pose a significant” risk that witnesses would be intimidated and “unduly influenced” in the case. Some witnesses have “had their lives turned upside down after coming within Mr. Trump’s verbal sights,” the court wrote.
The court also noted that Trump is subject to release conditions barring him from direct communication with witnesses.
That prohibition “would mean little if he can evade it by making the same statements to a crowd, knowing or expecting that a witness will get the message,” the court wrote.
The risk to witnesses “is largely irreversible in the age of the Internet,” the court noted. “Once an individual is publicly targeted, even revoking the offending statement may not abate the subsequent threats, harassment, or other intimidating effects during the pretrial as well as trial stages of this case.”
This is a breaking story and will be updated.