UPDATE: Judge in President Trump’s Jan. 6 Case Issues Limited Protective Order

Judge Tanya Chutkan, the Judge presiding over President Trump’s Jan. 6 Case, issued a protective order.

The protective order ONLY covers materials relating to the case.

Meaning this is a massive win for President Trump’s legal team.

Initially, the prosecuting team hoped to put a more general gag on President Trump.

This poses a problem for President Trump with the upcoming 2024 presidential election.

A broad protective order would have severely limited what he could say.

Damaging his campaign.

ABC News has more on the story:

 The judge overseeing special counsel Jack Smith’s Jan. 6 case against Donald Trump issued a protective order against the former president following a hearing Friday in which she cautioned Trump against making “inflammatory statements” about the case and said that his First Amendment rights are “not absolute.”  

 Judge Tanya Chutkan heard arguments Friday on the terms of a protective order that Smith was seeking in order to prevent “the improper dissemination or use of discovery materials” his team is preparing to turn over to Trump’s attorneys for them to prepare Trump’s defense. Trump himself was not present at the hearing. 

 

 The judge’s ruling, issued following the hearing, prohibits the disclosure of a range of “sensitive” materials, including all recordings, transcripts, interview reports and related exhibits shared by the special counsel.

 Smith requested the protective order last Friday after Trump posted a message to his social media platform, Truth Social, saying, “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!” 

 

 “Mr. Trump, like any American, has a right to free speech,” Chutkan told attorneys at Friday’s hearing. “But that right is not absolute.” 

 

 The Trump campaign said Trump’s message was aimed at political interest groups. 

 

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 Chutkan, as she was wrapping up the hearing, cautioned Trump over public statements he has made related to the case — and suggested that his words could backfire by moving the case to trial even faster. 

 

 “I intend to ensure the orderly administration of justice in this case as I would with any other case,” Chutkan said. “The more a party makes inflammatory statements about this case which could taint the jury pool or intimidate potential witnesses, the greater the urgency will be that we proceed to trial to ensure a jury pool from which we can select an impartial jury.”

This is positive and might indicate a fair trial for President Trump.

No protective order would have been ideal.

But after all, many cases have protective orders to prevent influence over the jury.

Trump hearing on protective order

Judge Chutkan has ruled that witness interview transcripts will be considered sensitive materials subject to the protective order.

“Your client’s defense is supposed to happen in this courtroom, not on the internet. And to the extent your…

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) August 11, 2023

SMITH SMACKED DOWN | TRUMP CAN TALK! https://t.co/T8nzBz70s6

— Just the News (@JustTheNews) August 11, 2023

I’m sure Jack Smith is upset that the Judge didn’t outright agree to his plea.

I think this is a great win for President Trump!

Now let’s see what NPR has to say:

The judge overseeing the former President Donald Trump’s trial in the Jan. 6 case sided with Trump’s lawyers and ruled that a protective order sought by prosecutors will cover only material the Justice Department designates as sensitive, not all the information to be exchanged in the discovery process.    

But Judge Tanya Chutkan sided with the Justice Department in designating witness interviews and recordings as “sensitive” and covered by the protective order. She said, “Disclosure of any of those materials creates too great a risk that witnesses may be intimidated” or the jury pool be polluted. 

   

The order is a partial win for both sides. Trump’s lawyers had argued that a more restrictive protective order would violate his First Amendment rights as he campaigns for president. Prosecutors worried Trump would make the criminal discovery process and the details he learned there part of his political campaign.

   

   

“The existence of a political campaign is not going to have any bearing on my decision,” the judge said. “I’m going to keep politics out of this.”  

   

Judge Chutkan noted that Trump is still governed by conditions of his release that include not intimidating or harassing witnesses or interfering with the administration of justice. If those kinds of statements are made, she said, “I will be scrutinizing them very carefully.”

   

And she rejected a proposal by Trump’s lawyers to allow a broad swath of people working with the defense team to view the discovery materials. Chutkan said “unindicted coconspirators” could have access to these materials under the defense’s broad definition, as well as volunteers and consultants to the defense. “I live in Washington, anyone is a consultant,” she said.

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Here’s to hoping that this trial is speedy.

President Trump needs as much time and energy to prepare for his 2024 presidential election.

Democrats have been berating President Trump with false charges.

Hoping to drain him of any opportunity of winning the 2024 presidential election.

This won’t work.

The people are not blind to what Democrats are doing.

President Trump will persevere in the 2024 election!

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