CNN reports:
US District Judge Tanya Chutkan said Friday that she plans to issue a protective order over the handling of evidence in the Donald Trump 2020 election interference case, saying it’s needed to protect witnesses or other interference in the trial.
The former president has a right to free speech, but that right is “not absolute,” the judge said at a hearing Friday. “Mr. Trump, like every American, has a First Amendment right to free speech, but that right is not absolute. In a criminal case such as this one, the defendant’s free speech is subject to the rules,” Chutkan said.
“Without a protective order, a party could release information that could taint the jury pool, intimidate witnesses or others involved in some aspect of the case, or otherwise interfere with the “process of justice,” she added.
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Judge Tanya Chutkan says Donald Trump’s right to free speech in January 6 case is ‘not absolute’ | CNN Politics https://t.co/vDEZbMLkRQ
— Audrey Irvine (@audreycnn) August 11, 2023
IMPORTANT — CHUTKAN: “What the defendant is currently doing — the fact that he’s running a political campaign has to yield to the orderly administration of justice. If that means he can’t say exactly what he wants to say about witnesses in this case, that’s how it has to be.”
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) August 11, 2023
LAURO: “My client will abide by the integrity of the process” but he “can’t be subject to some kind of contempt trap.”
CHUTKAN says no one is talking about contempt but says Trump’s speech rights must yield to pretrial release conditions and rules against witness intimidation.
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) August 11, 2023
LAURO: Govt’s proposed protective order woudl provide political “advantage” to Joe Biden.
“I cannot and will not factor into my decision” effect on political campaign, she says, “for either side.”
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) August 11, 2023
LAURO: “The risk is that someone can say something in the course of a heated debate or a heated campaign and [prosecutors] are going to throw a flag.”
He vows his client will follow precise letter of the court’s order.
CHUTKAN: “I’m glad to hear that.”
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) August 11, 2023
CHUTKAN emphasizes Trump is subject to pretrial release conditions, which include bar on harassing or intimidating witnesses. “All his behavior and statements are governed by conditions of release.
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) August 11, 2023