How Donald Trump Shot Himself in the Foot in Judge Chutkan Case

A judge reintroduced a gag order imposed on Donald Trump in the federal election interference case after the former president targeted his ex-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on social media.

Judge Tanya Chutkan, overseeing the trial into Trump's alleged criminal attempts to overturn the 2020 election results in which he has pleaded not guilty to four charges, reimposed the gag order following a request from Special Counsel Jack Smith's team.

The gag order was initially put in place to stop Trump from attacking prosecutors and potential witnesses. It was lifted so the former president's legal team could argue why the restrictions should not be put in place ahead of the trial beginning in March 2024. Trump and his lawyers have frequently suggested restrictions on what a presidential candidate can say during a White House bid is a First Amendment violation.

Federal prosecutors requested that Chutkan reimpose the gag order she lifted on October 20, arguing that Trump had attempted to "influence and intimidate" Meadows—a potential key witness in the trial—with social media posts amid reports the former chief of staff had been granted immunity to testify under oath to Smith's team as part of the investigation.

Reacting to reports of his former ally cooperating with authorities, Trump wrote in an October 24 Truth Social post that he didn't think that Meadows would have testified against him. Trump wrote: "Some people would make that deal, but they are weaklings and cowards, and so bad for the future [of] our Failing Nation. I don't think that Mark Meadows is one of them, but who really knows?"

In her explanation of why she reintroduced the gag order, Chutkan said Trump's remarks against Meadows would have "almost certainly" violated her order "under any reasonable definition" of targeting potential witnesses in the federal trial.

"The statement singles out a foreseeable witness for purposes of characterizing his potentially unfavorable testimony as a 'lie' 'mad[e] up' to secure immunity, and it attacks him as a 'weakling and coward' if he provides that unfavorable testimony—an attack that could readily be interpreted as an attempt to influence or prevent the witness's participation in this case," Chutkan wrote.

"The plain distinctions between this statement and the prior one—apparent to the court and both parties—demonstrate that far from being arbitrary or standardless, the Order's prohibition on 'targeting' statements can be straightforwardly understood and applied."

Trump's legal team has been contacted for comment via email.

In another Truth Social post, after Chutkan reinstated the gag order, Trump suggested the judge recuse herself from the case while claiming the decision means he is being "seriously restricted from campaigning in a free and open manner."

"I have just learned that the very Biased, Trump Hating Judge in D.C., who should have RECUSED herself due to her blatant and open loathing of your favorite President, ME, has reimposed a GAG ORDER which will put me at a disadvantage against my prosecutorial and political opponents," Trump wrote.

"This order, according to many legal scholars, is unthinkable! It illegally and unconstitutionally takes away my First Amendment Right of Free Speech, in the middle of my campaign for President, where I am leading against BOTH Parties in the Polls," he wrote. "Few can believe this is happening, but I will appeal. How can they tell the leading candidate that he, and only he, is seriously restricted from campaigning in a free and open manner? It will not stand!"

In a separate case, Trump has been fined on two occasions for violating a partial gag order imposed against him as part of the civil trial into the former president's alleged fraudulent filing of financial statements inflating the value of his properties.

Judge Arthur Engoron has fined Trump $5,000 and $10,000 after ruling the former president had attacked the judge's court staff member, law clerk Allison Greenfield, in social media posts and while speaking to reporters outside the New York courtroom.