CNN’s senior legal analyst Elie Honig said Monday that Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors’ gag order request for former President Donald Trump is “overboard” and “too much.”
Special Counsel Jack Smith pushed for a gag order on Friday that would limit what Trump can say publicly. “The defendant should not be permitted to continue to try this case in the court of public opinion rather than in the court of law, and thereby undermine the fairness and integrity of this proceeding,” prosecutors argued in the filing, according to The Hill.
Honig was asked what the judge can do in regards to Trump making statements both outside the court room as well as in his campaign.
“So judges do have the ability to issue gag orders, they’re sometimes called, but orders limiting what a party can say. Now the line in what you allow a party to say and not say, can be fuzzy, can be difficult to decide, especially where as here you have someone who is running for political office,” Honig explained. (RELATED: CNN Senior Legal Analyst Lays Out 3 Possible Defenses For Trump In NY Civil Case)
“I actually think that prosecutors in the DOJ case, their request that is pending right now, that was just referred to, is overbroad. Prosecutors say ‘he shouldn’t be allowed to make any disparaging statements about anybody involved in this case.’ That is too much. You’re allowed to make a disparaging statement about the other party, even about the judge, it’s maybe not a great idea,” Honig continued.
“For me, where I think the line ought to be drawn, and there’re some cases that support this, is when your statements cross the line from First Amendment expressive speech into something that could be harmful or threatening to any of the participants, and the two entities that we’re most concerned with are always going to be the jury number one, we don’t have a civilian jury in this case, and number two, your witnesses, especially your victims or your vulnerable witnesses and that we may have in this case.”
Trump appeared Monday at New York Supreme Court in a civil trial brought by Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James. James alleges Trump inflated his assets and defrauded banks and investors. Trump spoke to reporters just before entering the courtroom, slamming the trial as politically motivated and calling it a “sham” and a “scam.”