{"id":2209240,"date":"2024-03-29T14:34:02","date_gmt":"2024-03-29T18:34:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/judges-rare-media-appearance-on-trump-gag-order-sparks-controversy\/"},"modified":"2024-03-29T14:34:30","modified_gmt":"2024-03-29T18:34:30","slug":"judges-rare-media-appearance-on-trump-gag-order-sparks-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/judges-rare-media-appearance-on-trump-gag-order-sparks-controversy\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge&#8217;s uncommon interview about Trump&#8217;s censorship order stirs debate"},"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\">18<\/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%2Fjudges-rare-media-appearance-on-trump-gag-order-sparks-controversy%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=2209240&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--><p>Federal Judge Reggie Walton, appointed by President\u200c George W. Bush, took a controversial stance by appearing on \u2064CNN to \u200ddiscuss\u2062 former President Donald Trump&#8217;s comments on a judge&#8217;s daughter. This move sparked backlash, with concerns raised\u2064 over ethical boundaries. Walton \u2062warned against high-profile individuals making\u200d threatening comments about judges, emphasizing potential repercussions. Critics alleged Walton&#8217;s TV appearance compromised impartiality,\u2063 citing\u200d previous\u2062 courtroom statements against\u200d Trump.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>A sitting federal judge in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/washington-dc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Washington, D.C.<\/a>, appeared on television Thursday night to opine on former President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Donald Trump<\/a>, an extraordinary move that prompted backlash from some who felt it crossed an ethical boundary.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Reggie Walton, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/videos\/politics\/2024\/03\/29\/judge-reggie-walton-interview-trump-vpx.cnn\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"spoke\">spoke<\/a> on CNN about comments Trump has made in recent days on the daughter of a judge who is overseeing Trump\u2019s hush money case in New York.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s very disconcerting to have someone making comments about a judge, and it\u2019s particularly problematic when those comments are in the form of a threat, especially if they\u2019re directed at one\u2019s family,\u201d Walton said.<\/p>\n<p>Walton\u2019s interview was particularly unusual because Trump is also facing criminal charges in Washington, Walton\u2019s district, and Walton has overseen cases related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot that have parallels to Trump\u2019s case there.<\/p>\n<p>Mike Howell, who works at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said he asked his organization\u2019s legal team \u201cto carefully consider how these unprecedented partisan comments on a partisan network impact our cases before Judge Reggie Walton.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mike Davis, founder of the Article III Project and a staunch Trump supporter, called Walton\u2019s interview \u201cextremely inappropriate\u201d and said his group would file a complaint for misconduct.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIs this a (bad) joke? This is a sitting federal judge. And he\u2019s commenting on a pending criminal case? Against the leading presidential candidate? During the height of the election season? If so, this is highly prejudicial,\u201d Davis <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/mrddmia\/status\/1773544113046000113?s=20\">wrote<\/a> in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a problem,\u201d William Shipley, an attorney who has defended Jan. 6 suspects in court, said of the interview.<\/p>\n<p>Walton\u2019s interview came after New York Judge Juan Merchan imposed a gag order on Trump this week that prohibited the presumptive Republican presidential nominee from speaking about witnesses, prosecutors, and court staff involved in the hush money case. But the order did not limit Trump from speaking about Merchan or his family.<\/p>\n<p>Trump has, since the gag order\u2019s issuance, repeatedly criticized Loren Merchan, Juan Merchan\u2019s daughter, including calling her a \u201cRabid Trump Hater\u201d in a statement Thursday. Loren Merchan is the president of\u00a0a marketing firm that serves Democratic politicians.<\/p>\n<p>Walton, who said he and his own daughter had received alarming threats years ago from someone who cited his home address, warned that comments about judges from high-profile individuals could lead to an increase in threats against them.<\/p>\n<p>Amid the controversy over Walton going on TV, some critics shared anecdotes online about the aggressive comments the judge has made about Trump during court proceedings.<\/p>\n<p>Walton, for instance, once called Trump a \u201ccharlatan\u201d during the sentencing hearing for a defendant involved in the Capitol breach.<\/p>\n<p>Walton accused another defendant, the one who famously nabbed Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi\u2019s (D-CA) lectern during the riot, of being \u201cgullible enough\u201d to believe a \u201clie\u201d about the 2020 election.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAl Gore had a better case to argue than Mr. Trump, but he was a man about what happened to him,\u201d Walton said. \u201cHe accepted it and walked away.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As for his television remarks, ethics rules <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uscourts.gov\/judges-judgeships\/code-conduct-united-states-judges\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"prohibit\">prohibit<\/a> judges from commenting on the merits of pending cases in any court, but they leave open the ability for judges to comment generally on court procedures.<\/p>\n<p>Walton at one point during his interview commented on the specifics of Trump\u2019s gag order in New York, saying he agreed with Merchan\u2019s decision to leave his own name out of the order. However, Walton spoke largely in a generic manner outside of that and declined to elaborate on his past remarks about Trump that he has made during hearings.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve made the comments I\u2019ve made in the context of the sentences I impose because I\u2019m hoping that what I say to the individuals who I\u2019m sentencing will resonate with them and cause them to rethink the activity that they engaged in that brought them before the court and hopefully deter them from engaging in further conduct of that nature in the future,\u201d Walton said.<\/p>\n<p>Andrew Weissmann, a New York-based law professor and vocal Trump critic, commended Walton for his media appearance. He said Walton is \u201cextremely respected\u201d and that while his appearance was \u201cvery unusual,\u201d he has seen other judges speak about threats court officials have received.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s good to see judges in a bipartisan way speaking up about the rule of law and how central and important it is to our country,\u201d Weissmann <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/the-last-word\/watch\/federal-judge-speaks-out-after-trump-attacks-ny-judge-s-daughter-207922757863\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>said<\/a> in a television interview.<\/p>\n<p>A spokesperson for the chambers for Judge James Boasberg, the chief judge in Washington, said Boasberg had no comment on Walton\u2019s interview.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last night, Judge Reggie Walton, a federal judge in Washington, D.C. appointed by George W. Bush, made a rare TV appearance discussing ex-President Trump on CNN. His unprecedented move stirred controversy over potential ethical breaches<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":2209241,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/AP24069844799274.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2209240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/AP24069844799274.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2209240","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\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2209240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2209240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2209241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2209240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2209240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2209240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}