Are Trump's First Amendment rights up to J6 judge?

FPI / August 13, 2023

As she prepares to rule on barring Donald Trump from talking about some aspects of the Jan. 6 case against him, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan said the former president’s First Amendment right “is not absolute.”

Chutkan said that Trump‘s status as a candidate for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination will not affect her decision.

“The fact that he is running a political campaign currently has to yield to the administration of justice, and if that means he can’t say exactly what he wants to say in a political speech, that is just how it’s going to have to be,” Chutkan said. “I cannot, and I will not, factor into my decision what effect it will have on a political campaign for either side.”

Special prosecutor Jack Smith told the court last week that the government is prepared to provide Trump’s lawyers with a “substantial amount of discovery,” but the judge must prevent Trump from “improper dissemination or use of discovery materials, including to the public.”

But the judge, an Obama appointee, did give Trump a win on Friday when she rejected a request from Smith for a protective order.

Smith had requested the protective order last Friday after Trump posted to Truth Social: "IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I'M COMING AFTER YOU!"

The Trump campaign said the social media message was aimed at political interest groups and not witnesses in his case.

Trump made full use of his First Amendment rights while he still has them by posting to Truth Social:

"What Crooked Joe Biden, who can’t string two sentences together, has done to our once great Country through his Open Borders CATASTROPHE, may go down as the greatest and most damaging mistake ever made in USA HISTORY. It is not even believable that such incompetence and stupidity could have been allowed to happen. OUR COUNTRY IS BEING DESTROYED BY A MAN WITH THE MIND, IDEAS, AND I.Q. OF A FIRST GRADER. THIS INVASION OF OUR COUNTRY MUST STOP IMMEDIATELY. IT CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO CONTINUE!

"These Fake Indictments against me didn’t come down from heaven, they came from the most corrupt President in the history of the United States, Crooked Joe Biden, in order to Rig & Steal another Election. They shouldn’t even be allowed to go forward. They are all about Election Interference and getting even with the Republicans for the Congressional Hearings currently taking place that show Joe Biden is a CROOK!"

Free Press International
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