{"id":2069954,"date":"2023-10-17T08:10:16","date_gmt":"2023-10-17T12:10:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-entire-premise-of-trumps-j6-trial-is-an-affront-to-free-elections-and-rule-of-law\/"},"modified":"2023-10-17T08:13:40","modified_gmt":"2023-10-17T12:13:40","slug":"the-entire-premise-of-trumps-j6-trial-is-an-affront-to-free-elections-and-rule-of-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-entire-premise-of-trumps-j6-trial-is-an-affront-to-free-elections-and-rule-of-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump&#8217;s J6 trial undermines free elections and the rule of law."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthe-entire-premise-of-trumps-j6-trial-is-an-affront-to-free-elections-and-rule-of-law%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2069954&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"article-content\">\n<h2>A Remarkable Development in Trump&#8217;s Trial<\/h2>\n<blockquote>\n<p>A remarkable\u200c thing happened\u2064 on Monday in \u200dformer President Donald Trump\u2019s criminal trial over his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election. U.S. District Court Judge \u200cTanya Chutkan issued a gag order effectively prohibiting\u2064 Trump, currently the leading\u2064 GOP candidate for\u200c president, from defending\u200c himself in \u200cpublic\u2062 ahead of the 2024 presidential election.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The gag order means Trump cannot speak publicly about the trial, potential witnesses, court\u2063 personnel, or Special Counsel Jack Smith, the federal prosecutor \u200dwho requested the gag\u2064 order\u200d and characterized it as \u201cmodest\u201d and \u201cpermissible.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-832238486\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-ee0ffdfcc9e20221ed7c9cfed546bf79 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-ee0ffdfcc9e20221ed7c9cfed546bf79\"><\/div>\n<p>As my colleague \u2062Tristan Justice\u2062 <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/10\/16\/judge-bars-trump-from-campaigning-against-his-top-political-opponent\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">pointed \u2062out \u200cin these pages yesterday<\/a>, that means Trump\u2064 is barred from campaigning against his chief\u2063 political opponent, which isn\u2019t\u2062 just President Joe Biden but the entire \u2064federal \u200bgovernment, especially the Justice Department.<\/p>\n<p>It\u200c also means there\u2019s\u200b a potentially limitless number of things Trump could say \u2063on the campaign trail that would\u2063 violate the gag \u2063order. Julie Kelly, who was in the courtroom Monday,\u200c <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/julie_kelly2\/status\/1713950999688228936?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">noted \u200con X<\/a> (formerly Twitter) that there was an entire debate about whether it would be appropriate to allow Trump to use\u200c the phrase \u201cCrooked Joe Biden.\u201d A reporter for OANN\u200b <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/baldwin_daniel_\/status\/1713933181349421092?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">relayed<\/a> an exchange between Chutkan and Trump\u2019s defense attorney about whether Trump could call Smith a \u201cthug.\u201d Chutkan, an Obama appointee with\u2062 a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/uncovered-conman-with-long-history-of-deceit-dennis-montgomery-inserted-false-information-into-election-fraud-investigation-whos-paying-him\/\" title=\"UNCOVERED: Conman With Long History of Deceit, Dennis Montgomery, Inserted False Information Into Election Fraud Investigation, Who\u2019s Paying Him?\">long track record<\/a> of \u200b <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/08\/25\/judge-presiding-over-trumps-jan-6-trial-has-track-record-of-politically-charged-j6-rulings\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">politically charged \u2064Jan. 6 rulings<\/a>, said she \u200cdidn\u2019t think such\u2063 language was \u201cnecessary to advance a political campaign,\u201d \u2063as if she\u2019s any more \u2062competent to decide what sort\u200d of campaign rhetoric is necessary \u200bthan she\u200c is to assess the value of Mar-a-Lago.<\/p>\n<p>But set aside the insanity of a\u200c federal judge telling a leading presidential candidate \u2014 or \u200bany political candidate \u2014 what they can and\u200b cannot say \u200bon the\u2063 campaign trail, as if judges are now the supreme \u2062arbiters of American political discourse.\u2063 The gag order just\u2064 underscores how insane and farcical this \u2064entire trial \u2063is.<\/p>\n<p>Recall that \u200bSmith didn\u2019t indict Trump on charges that he\u2064 incited a riot on Jan. 6 or that he committed treason\u2064 \u2014 \u2064nothing as concrete as that. He indicted Trump for expressing his opinion that the 2020 \u200delection was stolen. You might think\u2062 it\u2019s crazy that Trump \u2062thinks he \u200cwon in 2020, but millions of Americans believe it \u2014 and they\u200d are free to say so thanks to\u2064 the First Amendment. Trump, too, should be\u2062 free to say it\u2062 as \u2064often and as loudly as he likes. As Jonathan Turley <a href=\"https:\/\/threadreaderapp.com\/thread\/1686502727717666816.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> when Trump was indicted back in August,\u200c \u201cIf you take a red\u2064 pen to all of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/doj-indictment-of-trump-is-a-declaration-of-war-against-american-voters\/\" title=\"DOJ's Trump Indictment: A War on American Voters\">material presumptively protected<\/a> \u2063by the First Amendment, you \u2063can reduce much of \u200bthe indictment to haiku.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-025de71f0a01fdf2063f4531c8cbb95d fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-025de71f0a01fdf2063f4531c8cbb95d\"><\/div>\n<p>The actual charges Trump\u2062 faces are conspiracy\u200b to obstruct an official \u2063proceeding, obstruction\u200d of\u200d and\u200c an\u200b attempt to obstruct \u200can official \u200cproceeding, and conspiracy against rights. What all that amounts to, though, \u2063is merely \u200dan\u200d assertion that\u2063 Trump\u2019s statements\u200c about the election were false and \u200dhe\u2063 knew it. But even \u2062if \u2062that were the case, so what? This is America. You\u2019re allowed to lie\u2064 in a political \u2063campaign. Joe Biden lies all the time, as does his \u200blackey\u200c Merrick \u2062Garland at the Justice Department. Whether Trump lied\u200b is a political question to be decided by voters, not some thug like Jack Smith.<\/p>\n<p>So what the trial \u200ccomes down to is that Trump said some things about 2020 that Biden and Garland and Smith didn\u2019t like,\u2063 and they decided to\u2064 prosecute him for\u2062 it. That\u2019s it. That\u2019s the \u2064whole case. Any judge with even a passing familiarity with the First Amendment would\u200c have thrown\u2064 the case out on day one.<\/p>\n<p>But that didn\u2019t happen, and now we have this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-entire-premise-of-trumps-j6-trial-is-an-affront-to-free-elections-and-rule-of-law\/\" title=\"Trump's J6 trial undermines free elections and the rule of law.\">garbage \u2062commie show trial unfolding<\/a> in the\u200d middle \u2063of a presidential election cycle. How is Trump supposed\u2062 to campaign when he\u2019s \u2063barred from talking\u200d about \u2063the No. 1 threat \u200cto the rule of law and free elections in America? He\u2019s not, which is the entire point \u200cof this: to keep Trump out of\u2063 the White House.<\/p>\n<p>Stepping back though, this isn\u2019t only about\u200d Trump. It\u2019s also about what the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/blunt-how-is-biden-going-to-buy-500-million-covid-tests-when-stores-cant-get-them\/\" title=\"Blunt: How Is Biden Going to Buy 500 Million COVID Tests When Stores Can't Get Them?\">federal government thinks<\/a> it can\u2062 do under the guise of enforcing the law. If\u200b the Justice \u2063Department \u2063can indict Trump for speaking out\u2062 about the election, it can indict\u200b any one of us\u200c for the same thing, the First\u200b Amendment be damned.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-5eaa157471d36382a08a9e920546e132 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-5eaa157471d36382a08a9e920546e132\"><\/div>\n<p>My\u2064 colleague Sean Davis <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/seanmdav\/status\/1713991335428952484?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> Trump should reject this \u201cSoviet insanity\u201d and just\u2064 violate \u200bthe gag order to force Chutkan and the Biden administration to choose whether to dispense with the \u200dpretense of the rule of \u200claw and free elections or just go ahead and\u2062 rig the election out in the \u200bopen by jailing \u2064Trump in the middle \u200dof the election for the\u200c crime of calling Biden\u2019s DOJ corrupt.\u200d \u201cMake them do it, \u2063so we can finally dispense with the fiction that democracy\u2064 actually exists in this\u2062 country anymore. \u200bMake them do it out in the open for the entire world \u200dto see.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s right. The entire premise of this\u2062 trial \u200bshould be rejected. The whole thing \u2064is illegitimate. It makes a mockery of our justice system and a mockery of our Constitution. There\u2019s\u200d no point debating the specifics of it with Democrats, of arguing\u2064 over this or that legal aspect of the trial, because to do\u200d so concedes the premise\u2063 that Trump might\u2064 have \u2062committed a crime by expressing his opinion \u200dabout\u2063 the 2020 election and that \u2063you can be \u2064prosecuted for something like that in America.<\/p>\n<p>At a rally in Iowa on Monday, Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/www.realclearpolitics.com\/video\/2023\/10\/16\/trump_on_gag_order_im_willing_to_go_to_jail_if_thats_what_it_takes_to_win.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> he\u2064 was\u200d \u201cwilling to go \u200cto jail if that\u2019s what it takes for\u2064 our country to win and become a democracy again.\u201d Let\u2019s hope he\u2019s serious,\u2063 because the only way out of this is for Trump to press the issue, defy the illegitimate gag order, and let the chips fall\u200c where they may.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-a0f68eaf28d3df089d77cca46113f1b8 fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-a0f68eaf28d3df089d77cca46113f1b8\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">\n<\/div>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h2> \u2063 How does the gag order impact Trump&#8217;s right to free speech and his ability to publicly defend himself ahead of the 2024 presidential election?<\/h2>\n<p><span>  A recent development in former President Donald Trump&#8217;s trial has sparked controversy and raised concerns about the limitation of\u200d free speech. U.S. District Court\u200b Judge Tanya Chutkan issued a gag order on Monday, effectively preventing Trump from publicly defending himself ahead of the 2024 presidential election.<\/p>\n<p>The gag order\u2062 prohibits Trump from discussing the trial, potential witnesses, court personnel, or\u200b Special Counsel Jack Smith, the \u200bfederal prosecutor\u2063 who\u200d requested the order. This means that Trump \u2064is barred from campaigning against his political opponent, which includes not only President Joe Biden but also the entire federal government, particularly the Justice Department.<\/p>\n<p>The \u200bimplications of\u2064 the gag order are significant. Trump could potentially violate the order by making statements\u2064 on the campaign trail. For instance, there was \u2063a debate about \u2064whether \u2064Trump could use the phrase &#8220;Crooked Joe Biden&#8221; or \u2064refer to Smith as a &#8220;thug.&#8221; Judge Chutkan, noted for politically charged rulings, argued that such\u2062 language was unnecessary for a political \u200bcampaign.<\/p>\n<p>The \u2064gag order raises concerns about a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>order issued by Judge Tanya Chutkan in former President Donald Trump&#8217;s trial restricts him from publicly defending himself before the 2024 presidential election, marking a significant event in the case. Trump, a prominent GOP candidate, faces allegations of attempting to overturn the 2020 election.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":518,"featured_media":2069955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2069954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2069954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/518"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2069954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2069954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2069955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2069954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2069954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2069954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}