Judge sets hearing on gag order request in Trump election case in DC

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A judge said Friday that she would hear arguments next month on federal prosecutors' request for a limited gag order in the case charging former President Donald Trump with scheming to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

The October 16 hearing before U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan will center on a push by special counsel Jack Smith's team to bar Trump from making inflammatory and intimidating public statements about potential witnesses, lawyers and other people involved in the case.

Prosecutors have said a narrowly tailored order is necessary to preserve the integrity of the case, which is currently set for trial for March 4, 2024, in federal court in Washington.

Trump's lawyers earlier this week denounced the gag order request as an attempt to “unconstitutionally silence” his political speech. They called the request a “desperate attempt at censorship.”

Chutkan ruled against the Trump earlier this week when she refused a defense request to step aside from the case over comments she'd made in other sentencing hearings that the attorneys said called into question her impartiality. Chutkan said there was no reason for her to recuse.