Appeals Court Lifts Gag Order For Trump's Fraud Trial

An appeals court in New York has temporarily lifted the gag order on Donald Trump that was placed on him (and his lawyers) by Judge Arthur Engoron, opening up the door for Trump to continue attacking the staff of the judge. But this might not be all that bad - it could end up being a double-edged sword for Trump, as he will likely use this opportunity to say stupid things that give the appellate court enough reason to reinstate it. Farron Cousins explains what's happening.

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*This transcript was auto-generated. Please excuse any typos.

The gag order placed on Donald Trump and his lawyers by Judge Arthur Geron in the New York Fraud Trial was temporarily lifted this week by the appellate court as they consider whether or not to permanently reinstate or permanently ban the gag order. But until that decision comes down, you had, uh, judge David Freeman on the, uh, uh, New York Appeals Court who said this gag order cannot be enforced right now. So as it stands right now in the state of New York, Donald Trump is once again to attack the judge and anyone in that courtroom that he so pleases. But this may not necessarily be a bad thing, much like when Judge Tanya Chut had placed the gag order on him, and then it got temporarily lifted at that moment when it was temporarily lifted. What did Donald Trump do? Well, he immediately engaged in witness intimidation by attacking potential witnesses against him on his social media platform.

Truth, social. It was at that point after Jack Smith then had to file an emergency motion that Chut can said, yeah, you know what? You're right. I've gotta put the gag order back in place even while the appeal is pending. So Donald Trump's actions during that very brief time when his gag order from Chut Ken was lifted immediately, went back to violating or what would've been violations of the gag order. And that's not gonna bode well for him as the, uh, appellate court makes their decision. So we could be looking at a similar situation here with the New York Fraud trial if Donald Trump is able to behave himself, which I don't think Donald Trump is able to behave himself, and, you know, he doesn't go out there and attack anybody in the courtroom, maybe that that works well for him as the appeal continues to, uh, be considered, or Donald Trump is gonna do what all of us expect him to do, and he's going to once again launch these horrific attacks against the staffers in that courtroom.

And then the appellate court is really gonna have no choice at that point, but to reinforce the gag order. Now, Trump had argued, of course, his lawyers had argued for him that the gag order was a violation of the First Amendment. And in fact, the judge who issued the, uh, temporary stay on the gag order, uh, did cite First Amendment issues while lifting it. Now, that's very weird to me because yes, obviously the First Amendment exists. However, gag orders from courts are 100% legal and do not run afoul of the United States Constitution because if a gag order is not in place, it could actually lead to more constitutional violations of the rights of the other people involved in a criminal trial. So judges do have

That authority, like that is authority that is well established, and it does not violate the Constitution. So it does kind of blow my mind a little bit that this, uh, you know, uh, appeals court judge would be like, yeah, I'll do the First Amendment, so let's lift it. Um, that doesn't make any sense. But again, this could be a situation where give him enough rope and see if he hangs himself. I don't know. But I do think, given what we have seen from Donald Trump in exactly the same situation, just, you know, a month ago, he's probably gonna do something pretty stupid. It could result in him getting the gag order put back on him even before the appeals court issues their final ruling. Unfortunately, this is something we're gonna have to wait and see, but I think for the safety of everybody in that courtroom, the appellate court needs to understand that Donald Trump needs this gag order, or he could be putting people in danger.