WASHINGTON—Tough-minded federal Judge Tanya Chutkan, handling the government’s trial against Donald Trump for his conspiracies and the Jan. 6, 2021, coup d’état and insurrection, had a blunt message for the former Oval Office occupant and his lawyers: “Your client’s defense is supposed to happen in this courtroom, not on the internet.”
In so many words, Judge Chutkan told Trump stop threatening witnesses and potential jurors.
Don’t post fiery statements on social media, the judge said. Don’t talk with potential witnesses, such as Trump’s VP, Mike Pence, who refused to kowtow to Trump’s attempt to skew the electoral vote count to return him to the White House.
Don’t take notes that you could then read outside the courtroom. Don’t even bring your cellphone into court to record the sessions on video.
And don’t try to intimidate jurors, either, Chutkan warned while issuing a protective order defining who could discuss evidence in the case, and how much.
Or else.
The judge wasn’t specific, but “or else” could violate a court agreement Trump signed the weekend before. It set conditions he must meet, including the ban on contacting witnesses. Violations would result in a fine of up to $250,000, up to 10 years in jail, or both.
Talking to Trump almost as if he was a child, Chutkan warned Trump if he contacted or chilled witnesses, she’d consider moving the trial up. Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith seeks a Jan. 2, 2024, start, almost precisely three years after 1,000 Trumpites, whom Trump ordered and egged on, invaded and ransacked the U.S. Capitol. Five defenders died afterwards, and 140-plus were injured.
The invasion was Trump’s last try at overthrowing the U.S. Constitution and illegally hanging onto the Oval Office, by stopping the electoral vote count and official certification on Jan. 6, 2021, that Democratic nominee Joe Biden won the presidency. The invasion delayed the certification—and almost denied it.
Ruling Aug. 11 on a confidentiality motion by Smith, Chutkan, a Barack Obama appointee who has handed down stiff sentences to individual Jan. 6 invaders, warned the lawyers to monitor Trump so he can’t take notes. Only the legal team can see the evidence, Chutkan said.
That’s important, because lead Trump lawyer Jack Lauro, who was also in court with Trump for this hearing, has been making the rounds of TV talk shows bleating the government is violating Trump’s free speech rights by trying to prevent him from discussing the evidence.
Smith sought the protective order covering all the evidence the Special Counsel’s office must turn over to Trump’s team before the actual trial starts. Chutkan turned down that blanket request, ruling that only sensitive evidence should be confidential. The judge didn’t define “sensitive,” but Chutkan’s past definitions of the term have been very broad, analysts said.
The judge says if Trump violates the order, the trial could start sooner, since many witnesses the former White House denizen could influence “don’t have Secret Service protection” from Trumpites’ threats. That’s important. Chutkan already has special security protection.
Even before the 90-minute hearing in U.S. District Court in D.C., Trump had already posted an inflammatory text on his Truth Social platform: “If you go after me, I’m coming after you!”
Former federal prosecutor Paul Butler told MSNBC he believes Trump will violate the order when Pence testifies. Butler said Trump won’t be able to resist commenting, and that would break the order.
Trump’s spokesman later said the tweet aimed at Trump’s political foes, particularly Biden and his team, plus Special Counsel Smith. Trump is the current front-runner by a wide margin for next year’s Republican presidential nomination. If he wins it, he’d face Biden in a November 2024 rematch.
So the trial, Trump attorney Lauro said, should be postponed and postponed and postponed.
Judge Chutkan didn’t buy it.
“I do want to issue a general word of caution,” Chutkan declared. “I intend to ensure the orderly administration of justice in this case as I would in any other case, and even arguably ambiguous statements by the parties or their counsel,” could be deemed potential attempts to “intimidate witnesses or prejudice potential jurors.
“I caution you and your client to take special care in your public statements in this case. I will take whatever measures are necessary to protect the integrity of these proceedings.”
The judge added Trump will be treated like any other criminal defendant in a federal court, entitled to a speedy trial, irrespective of politics and the 2024 campaign—or of the other criminal cases the former White House denizen faces.
As “a criminal defendant,” Trump will “have restrictions like every other criminal defendant,” Chutkan said just after the session began. The judge would “not allow him [Trump] any greater or lesser latitude than any defendant in a criminal case.”
That includes on the campaign trail. Chutkan called Trump’s latest presidential run his “day job.”
“Mr. Trump, like any other American,” has the First Amendment right to free speech, she said. But “it is not absolute.”
Chutkan is presiding over the coup d’état attempt trial, but it’s not the only indictment he faces as he continues to campaign to return to the White House.
The other cases against Trump and his presidential misdeeds include ongoing pretrial proceedings in the West Palm Beach, Fla., federal court over his theft of sensitive documents—notably a Pentagon plan to make war on Iran—from the White House.
They also include a pending decision this week by Fulton County (Atlanta), Ga., DA Fani Willis on indicting Trump and his top aides for racketeering in his attempt to steal Georgia’s electoral votes by forcing state officials to manufacture 11,780 imaginary popular votes to let Trump win—steal—the state by one ballot in 2020.
Fulton County law enforcement officials, including the state police, the county sheriff, and the local FBI office, are already preparing special security precautions there, including closing off the streets around the courthouse.
“Jurors want to know the whole story, and the RICO (Racketeering Influence and Corrupt Organizations) statute allows that,” Willis recently said.
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