Donald Trump’s lawyers have asked a federal judge to lift a narrow gagging order imposed on him in his 2020 election interference case while the former US president pursues a challenge to the ruling aimed at reining in his incendiary rhetoric.
Trump’s legal team wants US District Judge Tanya Chutkan to pause her order issued earlier this week, pending review by higher courts. His lawyers said they will seek an emergency stay from the US District Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit if Judge Chutkan denies their request.
The judge’s order bars the Republican from making statements targeting prosecutors, potential witnesses and court staff.
Trump’s lawyers, who quickly appealed against the ruling to the DC Circuit Court, said in court papers on Friday that he is likely to succeed in his challenge to the order because it is “unsupported by evidence and violates the First Amendment’s most basic precepts”.
It is the first issue in the case to land in an appeals court, which will decide whether Judge Chutkan went too far in limiting the speech of the Republican presidential primary front-runner over concerns that his online attacks could inspire violence.
In her ruling, Judge Chutkan said Trump is allowed to criticise the Justice Department generally and assert his claims of innocence and his allegations that the case is politically motivated, but she said his statements smearing prosecutors and likely witnesses have crossed a line and could spur his supporters to threaten or harass his targets.
It is the most serious restriction a court has placed on Trump’s rhetoric, which has become a centrepiece of his grievance-filled campaign to return to the White House.
At rallies and in social media posts, Trump has sought to vilify special counsel Jack Smith and others, casting himself as the victim of a politicised justice system working to deny him another term.
Trump has condemned the order as unconstitutional, and has used it to amplify his claims that he is being politically persecuted.
The former US president has denied any wrongdoing in the case charging him with illegally scheming to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
Prosecutors said Trump’s litany of attacks was already having consequences. They noted that a senior prosecutor on Mr Smith’s team received intimidating communications after being singled out by Trump, and a Texas woman was charged in August with making racist death threats against Judge Chutkan, who is of black and Asian descent, in a phone message left at her chambers.
