Appeals court judges express skepticism as Trump lawyer fights to reverse gag order in Jan. 6 case

Left: Special counsel Jack Smith speaks to the media about an indictment of former President Donald Trump, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023, AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite./ Right: Former President of the United States Donald J. Trump appears in the hallway of the courthouse to speak to the press on day three of the civil fraud trial in Manhattan, New York, United States on October 4, 2023 (Photo by Kyle Mazza/NurPhoto via AP)

Left: Special counsel Jack Smith speaks to the media about an indictment of former President Donald Trump, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023 (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite.) Right: Former President of the United States Donald J. Trump appears in the hallway of the courthouse to speak to the press on day three of the civil fraud trial in Manhattan, New York, United States on October 4, 2023. (Photo by Kyle Mazza/NurPhoto via AP.)

At oral arguments debating whether a temporarily-lifted gag order on Donald Trump in his election subversion case in Washington, D.C., is warranted, it was a question of the First Amendment and faith — good or bad — and precisely what version of it Trump employs as he speaks about his impending trial publicly and its participants.

Though only 20 minutes were scheduled respectively for Trump’s attorneys and special counsel prosecutors to argue, proceedings ultimately spanned nearly three hours as U.S. District Court of Appeals Judges Patricia A. Millett, Cornelia Pillard and Bradley Garcia peppered lawyers with questions weighing Trump’s trial rights and the rights of the federal government under the umbrella of the First Amendment.

Debate was often heated.

Trump attorney John Sauer proffered that any suggestion of threats to any party in the matter were purely speculative and that prosecutors had failed to provide any evidence that Trump’s rhetoric, be it on social media or at rallies or on television, have so far posed any real danger.

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