Former President Trump said Monday he intends to appeal a judge’s ruling imposing a gag order that prohibits him from attacking potential witnesses in his upcoming trial over his attempts to remain in power after the 2020 election.
Trump wrote on Truth Social shortly after the ruling — which also applies to prosecutors, court staff and their families — that he intended to appeal, and he later addressed the decision during a rally with supporters in Iowa.
“Today a judge put on a gag order. I’ll be the only politician in history that runs with a gag order where I’m not allowed to criticize people. Can you imagine this?” Trump told a crowd in Adel. “We’ll appeal it and we’ll see. But it’s so unconstitutional. The good thing is we have so much support it’s incredible.”
Judge Tanya Chutkan in a Monday hearing said Trump’s status as a candidate did not give him carte blanche to level a “smear campaign” against those involved in the case, saying “First Amendment protections yield to the administration of justice and to the protection of witnesses.”
Still, she clarified the order would not stop Trump from attacking President Biden or claiming the prosecution is politically motivated — an assertion the Justice Department again denied during the hearing.
The decision came after a request by the Justice Department to limit attacks that included disparaging, inflammatory and intimidating remarks about the case.
It’s something prosecutors said was needed to block Trump from using his reach as a former president to influence the case, while Trump’s team said it was overly broad and would chart new ground in impinging on the free speech rights of a presidential candidate.
Trump has repeatedly targeted Chutkan, special counsel Jack Smith, Biden and Washington, D.C., itself through social media posts and public speeches since he was indicted in August for his efforts to remain in power after the 2020 election.
The former president is already subject to a gag order in a civil trial in New York related to his business after he publicly attacked a court staffer in that case.