Donald Trump may have broken a newly reinstated gag order by posting on social media about a potential witness in his election trial.
The judge overseeing the former president’s federal election subversion criminal case, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, reinstated the order she issued earlier this month, meaning Trump is limited in what he can say publicly about the case, in which he is accused of conspiring to subvert the results of the 2020 presidential election.
But just 75 minutes after Chutkan gave notice that the order had been reinstated, Trump appeared to violate it by attacking his former attorney general and a potential witness, William P. Barr.
“I called Bill Barr Dumb, Weak, Slow Moving, Lethargic, Gutless, and Lazy, a RINO WHO COULDN’T DO THE JOB,” Trump said in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social.
Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
“His verbal skills are limited,” Barr said of the former president during an event at the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics earlier in the week.
“If you get him away from ‘very, very, very’ … you know, the adjectives … they’re unfamiliar to him and they sort of spill out, and he goes too far,” Barr said. “He’s not very disciplined when it comes to what he says.”
Referencing the attack, Trump added: “So now this Moron says about me, to get even, ‘his verbal skills are limited.’ Well, that’s one I haven’t heard before. Tell that to the biggest political crowds in the history of politics, by far. Bill Barr is a LOSER!”
Under the gag order, which was issued after prosecutors raised concerns Trump could intimidate witnesses or encourage harm against prosecutors through his public comments, Trump may not target court personnel, potential witnesses, or the special counsel and his staff in public statements.
It was frozen for nine days when Trump appealed the order, but judges decided it was constitutional and reinstated it.
If Trump is deemed to violate the gag order, Chutkan can decide on the punishment. In some cases, violators of gag orders have been jailed.
Meanwhile, earlier this month, Trump was fined $10,000 for violating a gag order in a business-fraud lawsuit for telling reporters that the judge involved in the case, New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, was “very partisan.”
After posting about Barr and reacting to the newly reinstated gag, Trump also posted on Truth Social to complain about it, saying: “The Corrupt Biden administration just took away my First Amendment Right To Free Speech. NOT CONSTITUTIONAL! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN…”
He has said in court that the gag order infringes on his right to free speech and limits his ability to discuss the case on the campaign trail.
The former president now faces two gag orders barring him from discussing aspects of his legal cases in public.
Newsweek has contacted Trump’s representatives by email for comment.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.