Trump’s Legal Strategy Starting to Pay Off for Former President
Former President Donald Trump has been smacked with two gag orders in two of the cases he is facing.
The civil suit in New York that was brought by Attorney General Letitia James and the federal indictment that was brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith.
Trump’s legal team has been fighting these orders, and their efforts now seem to be working in favor of Trump.
Narrow the Order
This is an unprecedented situation on several fronts.
First, we have never seen a former president face charges such as this after leaving office.
Second, the fact that Trump is now a candidate in the upcoming 2024 race really brings into question the constitutionality of these orders.
Trump has been using these cases to garner support, but Trump’s opponents are also using the cases to attack him, which is why these gag orders are being fought against so aggressively.
At the heart of the Trump legal team’s argument is Trump’s ability to defend himself against these attacks.
Even one of the judges on the appeals panel stated that we cannot expect Trump to have to be “miss manners” while these attacks are being levied.
Judge Millett asked Cecil VanDevender, a lawyer with Smith's office, "He has to speak 'Miss Manners' while everyone else is throwing targets at him?
"It would be really hard in a debate when everyone else is going at you full bore. Your attorneys would have to have scripted little things you can say.
"There's a balance that has to be undertaken here, and it's a very difficult balance in this context. But we have to use a careful scalpel here and not step into really sort of skewing the political arena, don't we?"
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is also supporting Trump’s case, arguing that while they do not necessarily support what Trump is saying, he has every right to say it.
While we do expect the gag order to be kept in place, I surely believe that it will be dialed back considerably to allow Trump to respond to attacks against him.
