US election trial judge issues partial gag order on Trump

WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES — The federal judge set to preside over Donald Trump’s trial for conspiring to overturn the 2020 US election imposed a partial gag order on the former president on Monday.

US District Judge Tanya Chutkan ordered Trump not to attack prosecutors, court staff or potential witnesses ahead of the historic trial scheduled to begin in Washington in March 2024.

Chutkan’s ruling came after special counsel Jack Smith filed a motion arguing that Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric threatened to undermine his trial for election subversion.

Trump has described Chutkan in public comments and social media posts as a “fraud” and “Trump-hating judge” Smith’s office as a “team of thugs,” and Washington as a “filthy and crime-ridden” city with a population “over 95% anti-Trump.”

Trump was indicted over his efforts to upend the results of the 2020 US election in a concerted effort that led to the violent 6 January 2021 attack by his supporters on the US Capitol.

He is also accused of seeking to disenfranchise American voters with his false claims that he won the November 2020 presidential election.

Chutkan has set 4 March 2024 for the start of the trial, which could interfere with Trump’s campaign to win the Republican nomination for next year’s presidential election.

— AFP