A federal appeals court lifted a gag order reining in Donald Trump’s comments about the criminal election-subversion case pending against him in Washington, D.C., Politico reports. At Trump’s request, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily lifted Judge Tanya Chutkan’s order prohibiting Trump from using his public statements to target special counsel Jack Smith and his team, court officials and potential witnesses. The appeals court’s action makes it likely that the gag order, which Trump contends violates his First Amendment rights and those of his supporters, will be sidelined for two weeks and perhaps longer. Trump has also complained that the order interferes with his rights as a presidential candidate to argue to voters that he is being politically persecuted by the Biden administration.
The D.C. Circuit set oral arguments for Nov. 20. The panel consisted of two Obama appointees — Patricia Millett and Cornelia Pillard — as well as the court’s newest member, Biden appointee Bradley Garcia. Chutkan issued the gag order on Oct. 17 at the request of Smith’s team, which contended Trump’s inflammatory attacks on witnesses, prosecutors, the judge and Washington, D.C., itself threatened to damage the integrity of his trial, slated to begin March 4. Chutkan barred all parties in the case from “targeting” witnesses, prosecutors and court staff. She said Trump would be permitted to criticize her, the Biden administration and the Justice Department, assert his innocence and generally allege that his prosecution is politically motivated. But Trump has called the restrictions an unprecedented attack on his free speech, particularly amid the 2024 presidential campaign cycle. Chutkan has repeatedly emphasized that she would not allow presidential politics or the campaign schedule to influence her decision-making. Trump is under a gag order in a civil suit by New York Attorney General Tish James alleging fraud in his real estate empire. Trump has been twice fined by the judge, for a total of $15,000, for violating a directive to cease public statements about the court staff.