Judge denies special counsel’s request, imposes partial gag order in Trump election case.
Judge Opposes Prosecutors’ Request to Bar Trump from Revealing Non-Sensitive Evidence
District Judge Tanya Chutkan has rejected prosecutors’ plea to prevent former President Donald Trump from disclosing non-sensitive evidence provided to him ahead of the trial on allegations of illegally obstructing the counting of the 2020 electoral votes.
During a hearing on August 11 in Washington, Judge Chutkan decided to issue a gag order that only prohibits the release of information labeled as sensitive by the prosecutors.
The prosecutors, led by special counsel Jack Smith, had requested a blanket gag order, citing concerns over witness safety and intimidation.
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During the hearing, the judge questioned the defense about the potential use of non-sensitive information to intimidate witnesses.
President Trump’s lawyer, John Lauro, a former federal prosecutor himself, responded by assuring that President Trump will comply with the pre-trial conditions, which already prohibit witness intimidation. Lauro emphasized that it is the prosecutors’ responsibility to justify why such a broad restriction on the 45th president’s First Amendment rights is necessary.
Lauro pointed out that the burden on President Trump’s rights is already significant, as it is up to the prosecutors to determine what information is considered sensitive.
Federal prosecutor Thomas Windom stated that the majority of the information ready to be handed over to the defense, which amounts to over 11 million pages and files, will be marked as sensitive.
Lauro mentioned President Trump’s ongoing election campaign multiple times, but the judge refused to take that into account.
Windom suggested that President Trump intended to release information before the trial that could influence the jury pool and manipulate public opinion through media coverage.
Lauro argued that public speech should not be grounds for a gag order.
The judge ultimately made the point that if President Trump were to attempt witness intimidation, there would be other mechanisms in place to address it, potentially affecting the conditions of his pre-trial release.
Lauro agreed but noted that former Vice President Mike Pence, a key witness in the case, is one of President Trump’s opponents in the primary race. He argued that both should be able to engage in campaign discourse.
The judge retorted that President Trump would be subject to the same restrictions as any other criminal defendant.
Lauro requested that the prosecutors specify which information within each document is considered sensitive. Windom deemed this request too challenging, and the judge sided with the government.
To the defense’s dismay, the judge denied access to the evidence beyond President Trump’s staff lawyers.
The gag order applies to both sides and covers information that is or becomes public. The defense would need to seek a modification of the order to release sensitive information that becomes publicly available.
The case, brought by special counsel Smith on August 1, alleges a conspiracy to “impair, obstruct, and defeat” the collection and counting of electoral votes, conspiracy against Americans’ right to vote, obstruction of the electoral vote counting by Congress, and conspiracy to obstruct the electoral vote counting.
The indictment argues that President Trump did not genuinely believe that the election was unlawfully taken from him, and his attempts to reverse the results were therefore fraudulent and corrupt.
On August 10, Smith proposed January 2, 2024, as the trial start date.
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