The Trump campaign on Monday lambasted a judge’s ruling barring the former president from attacking witnesses in his Washington criminal case over his efforts to remain in power after losing the 2020 election.
A Trump campaign spokesperson connected the decision to President Biden, who had no role in the decision or in Trump’s court cases, and called the ruling “an absolute abomination and another partisan knife stuck in the heart of our Democracy.”
“President Trump will continue to fight for our Constitution, the American people’s right to support him, and to keep our country free of the chains of weaponized and targeted law enforcement,” the spokesperson said in a statement shared by the campaign.
Judge Tanya Chutkan in a hearing on Monday said Trump’s status as a candidate did not give him carte blanche to level a “smear campaign” against those involved in the case, saying that “First Amendment protections yield to the administration of justice and to the protection of witnesses.”
The extent of Chutkan’s order was not entirely clear. She said she would describe only the “contours” of her decision Monday, while drafting a formal ruling later.
Still, she clarified the order would not stop Trump from attacking President Biden or claiming over the course of his campaign that the prosecution is politically motivated — an assertion the Justice Department again denied during the hearing.
Trump has yet to weigh in directly on the judge’s order. The former president is holding two campaign events in Iowa on Monday.
Trump has repeatedly targeted Chutkan, special counsel Jack Smith, Biden and D.C. itself through social media posts and public speeches since he was indicted in August for his efforts to remain in power after the 2020 election.
He has also targeted potential witnesses in the case, such as former Vice President Mike Pence and former Attorney General Bill Barr.