WASHINGTON: The federal judge set to preside over Donald Trump’s trial for conspiring to overturn the 2020 US election imposed a partial gag order on the former president on Monday.

US District Judge Tanya Chutkan ordered Trump not to attack prosecutors, court staff or potential witnesses ahead of the historic trial scheduled to begin in Washington in March 2024.

Chutkan’s ruling came after special counsel Jack Smith, a frequent target of Trump’s vitriol, filed a motion arguing that the former president’s inflammatory rhetoric threatened to undermine his trial for election subversion.

Trump has described Chutkan in public comments and social media posts as a “fraud” and “Trump-hating judge,” Smith’s office as a “team of thugs,” and Washington as a “filthy and crime-ridden” city with a population “over 95pc anti-Trump.” John Lauro, an attorney for Trump, argued against a gag order during a two-hour hearing in federal court on Monday, claiming that it would infringe on Trump’s First Amendment free speech rights. Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2023