Appeals court rejects Trump bid to review gag order in D.C. case

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday denied a request from former President Donald Trump to review a gag order against him en banc after a three-judge panel of the court upheld it.

In light of the full court's refusal to rehear the matter, the Trump team will likely next appeal to the Supreme Court, The Hill noted.

U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan in October imposed the gag order against Trump as part of special counsel Jack Smith's D.C. election case against him, stating that "[t]his is about language that presents a danger to the administration of justice."

The three-judge panel of the appeals court in December upheld the order, but narrowed its scope to only prevent Trump from discussing "known or reasonably foreseeable witnesses concerning their potential participation in the investigation or in this criminal proceeding."

The panel did remove Smith from the list of figures against whom Trump is forbidden to speak, saying "district court’s order, however, sweeps in more protected speech than is necessary."

The Supreme Court previously rejected a request from Smith to intervene in an unrelated dispute in the case over Trump's presidential immunity claims. Trump has appealed Chutkan's rejection of those claims to the appeals court as well, though Smith sought direct intervention from the Supreme Court, which declined to oblige him on that front.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.