Trump election interference case: Judge temporarily lifts Trump gag order

The federal judge who is overseeing former President Donald Trump’s 2020 election interference case in Washington decided to temporarily freeze a gag order she put in place earlier in the week.

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U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Friday agreed to lift her narrow gag order on a temporary basis, The Associated Press reported.

Chutkan issued the gag order Monday, which barred Trump from making statements publicly that targeted prosecutors, court staff and potential witnesses, the AP reported.

The reason for the hold was to give “the parties more time to brief her on the former president’s request to pause the order while his appeal of it plays out,” according to CNN.

Chutkan said that the Justice Department has until Wednesday to respond to the former president’s request for a longer pause on the gag order, CNN reported. Trump has until Oct. 28 to reply to the government’s filing.

CNN reported that Trump appealed the gag order to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in a 33-page filing on Friday.

Trump’s lawyers wrote in court papers Friday that neither the judge nor the prosecutors can justify the gag order. According to the AP, they said that Trump “has not unlawfully threatened or harassed anyone.”

“By restricting President Trump’s speech, the Gag Order eviscerates the rights of his audiences, including hundreds of millions of American citizens who the Court now forbids from listening to President Trump’s thoughts on important issues,” the defense wrote in court papers that were obtained by the AP.

In August, Trump pleaded not guilty to four counts related to efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

In a 45-page indictment, authorities charged Trump with conspiracy to defraud the U.S., conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights. They said that Trump schemed to hold on to power after he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden, pressuring officials to try to get them to overturn the results and lying for months about alleged election fraud.

The charges against Trump were filed as part of Smith’s monthslong investigation into the former president’s involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, violence at the U.S. Capitol. Smith is also overseeing a federal case in Florida, where Trump faces charges for his handling of classified documents found last year at his Mar-a-Lago estate.