Donald Trump 'Has to Be Controlled' With Gag Orders, Former Attorney Warns
Nov. 27 2023, Published 9:34 a.m. ET
Donald Trump hasn't been filtering himself for quite some time, especially when it comes to his legal cases, but according to Joyce Vance, a former United States attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, she made it clear that it's dangerous to keep letting the ex-president run his mouth going forward.
"I think the judges will decide to uphold the gag order. If Trump had shown the ability to restrain his behavior, perhaps they would consider whether the measure was necessary. But, as he continues to double down and inflict this kind of damage not just on individuals involved in the system but on the system itself, I think it's very likely we'll see the gag order sustained," Vance said on Sunday, November 26, while talking on MSNBC's American Voices With Alicia Menendez.
"No one wants to do anything that comes close to restraining the First Amendment rights of a political candidate, but when you balance the merits at stake here, it seems clear that Trump has to be controlled, and these gag orders are the only way to do it," Vance added.
In late November, a state appellate court judge froze the two gag orders in place that Judge Engoron imposed in the first place. However, the court lifted them until they hear a full appeal from Trump's lawyers, who are demanding the gag orders be removed.
In another case, a three-person Court of Appeals is considering whether to reimpose a gag order imposed by Judge Tanya Chutkan.
"In fact, Jack Smith filed on Thanksgiving Day a notice with the court, alerting them to what's going on in New York and this 275 pages of complaints of emails, of phone calls that the clerk in New York had received and they documented how the threats rose when Trump posted. I think this is compelling in Washington," Vance said.
"And here is the problem: no court wants to be the court that permits an attack to occur, whether it's on a witness, or a juror or court personnel, because they didn't take steps in advance that could have kept Trump from continuing to post," Vance added.
- Donald Trump's New York Gag Order Could Be Reinstated After Social Media Outburst, DOJ Court Filing Reveals
- Donald Trump Rants the 'Weaponized DOJ' Is Trying to 'Take Away' His First Amendment Rights Prior to Gag Order: 'They Want to Cheat!'
- 'This Never Happens': Donald Trump's 'Outrageous' New York Gag Order Criticized by Former Watergate Prosecutor
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As OK! previously reported, Trump has been indicted four times this past year.
However, he has continued to maintain his innocence. When he appeared in court in November, he lashed out moments before the trial took place.
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Trump then did the same thing on Thanksgiving Day when he took to Truth Social to call out New York’s attorney general and the judge overseeing his civil fraud case.
“Happy Thanksgiving to ALL, including the Racist & Incompetent Attorney General of New York State, Letitia ‘Peekaboo’ James, who has let Murder & Violence Crime FLOURISH, & Businesses FLEE; the Radical Left Trump Hating Judge, a ‘Psycho,’ Arthur Engoron, who Criminally Defrauded the State of New York, & ME, by purposely Valuing my Assets at a ‘tiny’ Fraction of what they are really worth in order to convict me of Fraud before even a Trial, or seeing any PROOF, & used his Politically Biased & Corrupt Campaign Finance Violator, Chief Clerk Alison Greenfield, to sit by his side on the ‘Bench’ & tell him what to do,” Trump said on Thursday, November 23.