Judge’s uncommon interview about Trump’s censorship order stirs debate

A sitting federal judge in Washington, D.C., appeared on television Thursday night to opine on former President Donald Trump, an extraordinary move that prompted backlash from some who felt it crossed an ethical boundary.

Judge Reggie Walton, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, spoke on CNN about comments Trump has made in recent days on the daughter of a judge who is overseeing Trump’s hush money case in New York.

“It’s very disconcerting to have someone making comments about a judge, and it’s particularly problematic when those comments are in the form of a threat, especially if they’re directed at one’s family,” Walton said.

Walton’s interview was particularly unusual because Trump is also facing criminal charges in Washington, Walton’s district, and Walton has overseen cases related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot that have parallels to Trump’s case there.

Mike Howell, who works at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said he asked his organization’s legal team “to carefully consider how these unprecedented partisan comments on a partisan network impact our cases before Judge Reggie Walton.”

Mike Davis, founder of the Article III Project and a staunch Trump supporter, called Walton’s interview “extremely inappropriate” and said his group would file a complaint for misconduct.

“Is this a (bad) joke? This is a sitting federal judge. And he’s commenting on a pending criminal case? Against the leading presidential candidate? During the height of the election season? If so, this is highly prejudicial,” Davis wrote in a statement.

“This is a problem,” William Shipley, an attorney who has defended Jan. 6 suspects in court, said of the interview.

Walton’s interview came after New York Judge Juan Merchan imposed a gag order on Trump this week that prohibited the presumptive Republican presidential nominee from speaking about witnesses, prosecutors, and court staff involved in the hush money case. But the order did not limit Trump from speaking about Merchan or his family.

Trump has, since the gag order’s issuance, repeatedly criticized Loren Merchan, Juan Merchan’s daughter, including calling her a “Rabid Trump Hater” in a statement Thursday. Loren Merchan is the president of a marketing firm that serves Democratic politicians.

Walton, who said he and his own daughter had received alarming threats years ago from someone who cited his home address, warned that comments about judges from high-profile individuals could lead to an increase in threats against them.

Amid the controversy over Walton going on TV, some critics shared anecdotes online about the aggressive comments the judge has made about Trump during court proceedings.

Walton, for instance, once called Trump a “charlatan” during the sentencing hearing for a defendant involved in the Capitol breach.

Walton accused another defendant, the one who famously nabbed Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) lectern during the riot, of being “gullible enough” to believe a “lie” about the 2020 election.

“Al Gore had a better case to argue than Mr. Trump, but he was a man about what happened to him,” Walton said. “He accepted it and walked away.”

As for his television remarks, ethics rules prohibit judges from commenting on the merits of pending cases in any court, but they leave open the ability for judges to comment generally on court procedures.

Walton at one point during his interview commented on the specifics of Trump’s gag order in New York, saying he agreed with Merchan’s decision to leave his own name out of the order. However, Walton spoke largely in a generic manner outside of that and declined to elaborate on his past remarks about Trump that he has made during hearings.

“I’ve made the comments I’ve made in the context of the sentences I impose because I’m hoping that what I say to the individuals who I’m sentencing will resonate with them and cause them to rethink the activity that they engaged in that brought them before the court and hopefully deter them from engaging in further conduct of that nature in the future,” Walton said.

Andrew Weissmann, a New York-based law professor and vocal Trump critic, commended Walton for his media appearance. He said Walton is “extremely respected” and that while his appearance was “very unusual,” he has seen other judges speak about threats court officials have received.

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“It’s good to see judges in a bipartisan way speaking up about the rule of law and how central and important it is to our country,” Weissmann said in a television interview.

A spokesperson for the chambers for Judge James Boasberg, the chief judge in Washington, said Boasberg had no comment on Walton’s interview.