The federal judge overseeing the election conspiracy case against former President Donald Trump on Friday agreed with the defense on a limited protective order that would bar only the former president from airing evidence deemed "sensitive," but warned his attorneys that he must abide by her rules.
"Your client's defense is supposed to happen in this courtroom," U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan told Trump's lawyers during a hearing in Washington, D.C., "not on the internet."
Chutkan heard arguments from both sides over the prosecution's request for a protective order after Trump appeared to promise revenge on anyone who goes after him.
[Related: What to know about the judges in Trump's federal trials]
The Justice Department had asked the court to limit what information Trump and his legal team could share publicly about the case, including "witnesses, judges, attorneys, and others associated with legal matters pending against him." The former president's lawyers did not object to a protective order but requested that the judge put in place a version that was less restrictive than the one proposed by the government.
While appearing to side with the defense, Chutkan warned that Trump was subject to the court’s rules despite his status as the current frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
What did Trump say, exactly?
"IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I'M COMING AFTER YOU!" Trump wrote in an all-caps missive on Truth Social on Aug. 4, a day after he was arraigned on criminal charges stemming from special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into the former president's efforts to hold on to power following his loss in the 2020 election, including his involvement in the events that culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
And Trump has continued to rail against Smith on the campaign trail.
At a rally in New Hampshire on Tuesday, Trump referred to the special counsel as a "thug" and assured his supporters that he won't stop talking about the case.
"I will talk about it," he said. "They’re not taking away my First Amendment rights."
Georgia indictment looms
The hearing in Washington on Friday came days before Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is expected to take her own election interference case against Trump and his allies in Georgia to a grand jury.
CNN reported Wednesday that Willis is expected to seek more than a dozen indictments against Trump and his allies next week when she presents the findings of her long-running 2020 election interference investigation before a grand jury.
The Atlanta prosecutor launched her investigation into Trump’s efforts to subvert the results of the 2020 election shortly after a recording of a Jan. 2, 2021, phone call of Trump pressuring Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes” was made public. Joe Biden carried Georgia by 11,779 votes.
[Also read: Trump lashes out at Fani Willis as his legal woes intensify]
Trump has been lashing out at Willis, too.
At his rally Tuesday, the former president baselessly accused her of having an affair with a gang member.
"They say there's a young woman — a young racist in Atlanta — they say she was after a certain gang and she ended up having an affair with the head of the gang or a gang member," Trump told his supporters in New Hampshire. "And this is a person who wants to indict me … for a perfect phone call."
Classified documents case
The possible indictment in Georgia would be the fourth in five months for Trump, the first former president ever to be criminally charged.
In June, Trump and his valet, Walt Nauta, were indicted by a federal grand jury on 38 counts stemming from the DOJ's investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents and alleged efforts to obstruct the probe. Late last month, the grand jury returned a new version of the indictment that added more obstruction counts and an additional co-defendant, Carlos De Oliveira, an employee at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
Trump and Nauta both pleaded not guilty Thursday to the new charges. De Oliveira has yet to be arraigned.
DOJ's use of multiple grand juries under review
Meanwhile, the Florida judge overseeing the classified documents case has ordered Smith to explain why his team used a grand jury in Washington to continue gathering evidence after it had already indicted the former president in Florida using a grand jury in Miami.
Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, is reviewing the involvement of multiple grand juries after Trump's lawyers raised the issue.
In a motion filed last week, the government said it continued to use grand juries in Florida and Washington after indicting Trump to “investigate further obstructive activity."
