Judge agrees to 'narrow' gag order limiting Trump attacks on witnesses in Jan. 6 case

A federal judge on Monday said she would impose a gag order barring former President Trump from attacking future witnesses in his election interference case as well as prosecutors, court staff and their families.

Judge Tanya Chutkan said Trump’s status as a candidate did not give him carte blanche to level a “smear campaign” against those involved in the case, saying that “1st amendment protections yield to the administration of justice and to the protection of witnesses.”

She declined however, to grant an order with the breadth requested by the Justice Department in September, declining to limit any speech attacking her or the District of Columbia, saying the court would use the jury selection process to ensure it does not pick jurors swayed by Trump’s repeated attacks on the city.

The extent of Chutkan’s order was not entirely clear, saying she would describe only the “contours” of her decision, while drafting a formal ruling later.

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