The U.S. judge overseeing Donald Trumpās prosecution for allegedly criminally conspiring to overturn Joe Bidenās election victory said that while every American has a First Amendment right to free speech, it is ānot absoluteā and that even the former presidentās campaign statements must yield to protecting the integrity of the judicial process.
In her first hearing over Trumpās federal case in D.C., U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan said that āthe fact that he is running a political campaignā will have no bearing on her decisions and āmust yield to the orderly administration of justice.ā
āIf that means he canāt say exactly what he wants to say about witnesses in this case, then thatās how itās going to be,ā Chutkan said Friday, repeatedly warning the former president and his defense about limits on what he can potentially reveal about government evidence in the case. āTo the extent your client wants to make statements on the internet, they have to always yield to witness security and witness safety.ā
āI caution you and your client to take special care in your public statements about this case,ā the judge said after the 90-minute hearing, āI will take whatever measures are necessary to safeguard the integrity of these proceedings.ā
Chutkanās warnings laid down an early marker in the case, even as she settled a fight between the sides over a protective order needed to speed the prosecutionās handover of materials and the courtās setting of a trial date, which special counsel Jack Smithās team has proposed for Jan. 2.
In the hearing, Chutkan rejected the governmentās request for a blanket protective order limiting sharing of all evidence released in the case. However, she mostly sided with prosecutors in granting them leeway to define āsensitiveā materials subject to greater protections, adding that Trumpās defense had agreed to similar conditions in his pending special counsel prosecution in Florida on charges of mishandling classified documents and obstruction.
So what youāre saying is we have to wait until his cries cause actual harmā¦ Like Jan 6
So being tried for doing this already, and heās doing it running up to his trial, weāre supposed to wait for whatā¦ a judge to die? Then we can charge him again but still not be able to censor him?
No I was just sharing my picayune knowledge of the āfire in a crowded theaterā trope.
If Trump does things that can be seen as a threat or attempt to intimidate, he can be punished for it. He can have his ability to contact the outside world curtailed.
For better or worse we donāt have āpre crimeā in America. He has to either do a crime or attempt to do a crime before we can sanction him.