WASHINGTON: A federal appeals court is hearing arguments Monday on whether to reinstate a gag order against Donald Trump in the federal case charging him with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Prosecutors with special counsel Jack Smith’s team will urge a three-judge panel of the Washington-based appeals court to put back in place an order barring the former president from making inflammatory statements about lawyers in the case and potential witnesses.
The prosecutors say those restrictions are necessary to prevent Trump from undermining confidence in the court system and intimidating people who may be called to testify against him. Defense lawyers have called the gag order an unconstitutional muzzling of Trump’s free speech rights and say prosecutors have presented no evidence to support the idea that his words have caused harm or made anyone feel threatened.
The gag order is one of multiple contentious issues being argued ahead of the landmark March 2024 trial. Defense lawyers are also trying to get the case dismissed by arguing that Trump, as a former president, is immune from prosecution and protected by the First Amendment from being charged. The outcome of Monday’s arguments won’t affect those constitutional claims, but it will set parameters on what Trump as both a criminal defendant and leading presidential candidate can and cannot say ahead of the trial.
The order has had a whirlwind trajectory through the courts since US District Judge Tanya Chutkan imposed it last month in response to a request from prosecutors, who cited among other comments Trump’s repeated disparagement of Smith as “deranged.”
The judge lifted it days after entering it, giving Trump’s lawyers time to prove why his words should not be restricted. But after Trump took advantage of that pause by posting on social media comments that prosecutors said were meant to sway his former chief of staff against giving unfavorable testimony, Chutkan put it back in place.
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit later lifted it as it considered Trump’s appeal.
The judges hearing the case include Cornelia Pillard and Patricia Millett, both appointees of former President Barack Obama, and Brad Garcia, who joined the bench earlier this year after being nominated by President Joe Biden.
The panel is not expected to immediately rule on Monday. Should the judges rule against Trump, he’ll have the option of asking the entire court to take up the matter. His lawyers have also signaled that they’ll ask the Supreme Court to get involved.
The four-count indictment in Washington is one of four criminal cases Trump faces as he seeks to reclaim the White House in 2024.
He’s been charged in Florida, also by Smith’s team, with illegally hoarding dozens of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate. He’s also been charged in state court in New York in connection with hush money payments to a porn actress who alleged an extramarital affair with him, and in Georgia with scheming to subvert the 2020 presidential election in that state.
US appeals court to hear arguments on whether to reinstate gag order against Donald Trump
https://arab.news/8du56
US appeals court to hear arguments on whether to reinstate gag order against Donald Trump
- Defense lawyers have called the gag order an unconstitutional muzzling of former president’s free speech rights
Nobel Institute says Venezuelan leader Machado can’t give Peace Prize to Trump
WASHINGTON: The organization that oversees the Nobel Peace Prize is throwing cold water on talk of Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado giving her recent award to President Donald Trump.
Once the Nobel Peace Prize is announced, it can’t be revoked, transferred or shared with others, the Norwegian Nobel Institute said in a short statement on Friday.
“The decision is final and stands for all time,” it said.
The statement comes after Machado said she’d like to give or share the prize with Trump, who oversaw the successful US operation to capture authoritarian Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro. He is facing drug trafficking charges in New York.
“I certainly would love to be able to personally tell him that we believe — the Venezuelan people, because this is a prize of the Venezuelan people — certainly want to, to give it to him and share it with him,” Machado told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Monday. “What he has done is historic. It’s a huge step toward a democratic transition.”
Machado dedicated the prize to Trump, along with the people of Venezuela, shortly after it was announced. Trump has coveted and has openly campaigned for winning the Nobel Prize himself since his return to office.
When it comes to governing Venezuela after Maduro’s capture, though, Trump has so far backed someone else: acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who served as vice president under Maduro.
He’s called Machado a “very nice woman” but said she doesn’t currently have the support within Venezuela to govern. He told Hannity on Thursday that Machado plans to visit next week and referred to a potential Peace Prize offering as a “great honor.”
A representative for Machado did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
