WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A U.S. appeals court on Friday largely upheld a judge’s gag order that bars Donald Trump from publicly assailing prosecutors, court staff and potential witnesses in a federal criminal case accusing the former president of illegally trying to overturn his 2020 election loss.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit kept most of the restrictions imposed by the original order, but allowed Trump to personally criticize Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is overseeing the prosecution.
“We agree with the district court that some aspects of Mr. Trump’s public statements pose a significant and imminent threat to the fair and orderly adjudication of the ongoing criminal proceeding,” Judge Patricia Millett wrote in the order.
But the court found the initial gag order “sweeps in more protected speech than is necessary.”
(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward; writing by Ismail Shakil; Editing by Caitlin Webber and Nick Zieminski)
