Washington's federal appeals court on Tuesday rejected Donald Trump's request to reconsider a gag order restricting the former president's speech in the case charging him with plotting to overturn the 2020 election. Lawyers for the former president had asked the full US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit to examine the gag order after a three-judge panel upheld but narrowed the restrictions on his speech. Trump can now appeal to the US Supreme Court, per the AP.
The gag order was imposed by US District Judge Tanya Chutkan in October in response to concerns from special counsel Jack Smith's team that Trump's pattern of incendiary comments could taint the proceedings, intimidate witnesses, and influence jurors. The three-judge panel that upheld the gag order last month modified it in important ways, freeing Trump to publicly criticize Smith. The panel said that though Trump could make general comments about known or foreseeable witnesses, he could not directly attack them over their involvement in the case or about the content of their expected testimony.
Trump's lawyers argued the panel's decision contradicted Supreme Court precedent and rulings from other appeals courts. They said a fresh evaluation was needed "both to secure uniformity of this Court's decisions and because of the question's exceptional importance."
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