'Will America survive?' Trump launches tirade over gag order hearing

Donald Trump lashed out overnight Sunday, possibly for the last time, against the judge and prosecutor trying the ex-president on charges he attempted to overturn the 2020 election he lost.

On Monday U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan will hear arguments on Special Counsel Jack Smith's very detailed request she place a "gag" order on Donald Trump, preventing him from attacking or attempting to intimidate witnesses, potential witnesses, or officers of the court including prosecutors and the judge in his election fraud case.

"If Chutkan agrees that Trump’s penchant for public invective should be restrained, it will be his first brush with court-ordered consequences in a criminal case — consequences that, at least in theory, could be backed by the threat of jail time," reports Politico. "And a gag order would immediately raise two questions that could define his bid to retake the White House: Is Trump capable of abiding by a court-ordered restriction on his speech? And what is Chutkan prepared to do if he isn’t?"

Offering prosecutors just one more slice of evidence, Trump late Sunday night unleashed yet another tirade, and once again conflated his fortunes to those of the nation itself.

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"Tomorrow is a big day for Democracy," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, asking: "Will America survive, or not?"

He called the Special Counsel a "Leaking, Crooked and Deranged Prosecutor," and U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan "a highly partisan Obama appointed Judge...who should recuse herself based on the horrible things she has said." He labeled both "political Hacks and Thugs [who] are destroying our Country."

Trump said Smith asked Chutkan "to silence me, through the use of a powerful GAG ORDER, making it impossible for me to criticize those who are doing the silencing, namely Crooked Joe Biden, and his corrupt and weaponized DOJ & FBI."

"They want to take away my First Amendment rights, and my ability to both campaign and defend myself," Trump claimed, suggesting his campaign is based on publicly attacking the judge, the prosecutor, and the witnesses. "In other words, they want to cheat and interfere in the 2024 Presidential Election. Nothing like this has ever happened in our Country before. It is strictly Banana Republic kind of 'stuff.'"

Despite Trump's allegation, Smith's request would not preclude him from attacking President Joe Biden.

"Smith’s proposed order in the D.C. criminal case," Politico notes, "would bar Trump and his attorneys 'from making or authorizing statements to the media or in public settings, including through social media, that pose a substantial likelihood of material prejudice to this case.' Those statements would include any 'regarding the identity, testimony, or credibility of prospective witnesses' and 'disparaging and inflammatory or intimidating statements about any party, witness, attorney, court personnel, or potential jurors.'"

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Politico posits that if "Trump were to violate a potential gag order, enforcement would fall to Chutkan, who has a range of options ranging from gentle warnings to pretrial incarceration. It’s hard to imagine a scenario in which she orders the former president jailed before trial — though his rhetoric may test that premise. Still, short of detention, Chutkan could impose other restrictions, such as limits on his use of social media or access to the internet. Any consequence she were to impose on Trump would become instant grist for Trump’s attacks on the court and the justice system, a dynamic Chutkan is plainly aware of."

Judge Chutkan did not need additional evidence to reach whatever decision she will hand down, possibly Monday, on Smith's request to limit Trump's ability to attack witnesses or officers of the court.

On Monday, MSNBC columnist Glenn Kirschner, a former federal prosecutor for 30 years, noted that Smith earlier had already pointed out "that Trump was ratcheting up the dangerous rhetoric against witnesses. Specifically, prosecutors reproduced in their court filing a Sept. 22 Truth Social post in which Trump 'falsely claimed' that one of the witnesses against him — the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley — 'had committed treason and suggested that he should be executed.'"