Friday, on FNC’s “The Ingraham Angle,” network contributor Jonathan Turley reacted to the temporary freeze on the gag order issued in President Donald Trump’s D.C. case.
Turley said he and some of Trump’s critics viewed the gag order as unconstitutional.
“[L]et’s start with the D.C. Circuit,” FNC host Laura Ingraham said. “Now, does this temporary freeze signal that there is likelihood of success on the merits with the Trump legal team’s First Amendment claims for lifting that gag order?”
“Well, Laura, it’s hard to say because we have to wait to see how the panel reacts in its review, particularly the oral argument. They are essentially freezing any action here. They could have left it to continue, to continue while they reviewed it. But, they decided, perhaps in an abundance of caution, to order this stoppage until they can give it a full review. The reason I think this could be quite significant is I think that the order is unconstitutional. I said that when it was first issued. It’s a very odd concept of an order because the court here insisted on having this trial before the election sort of shoe-horned it in before Super Tuesday. And everyone in this election is going to be talking about these cases, except one person under this gag order. And that is Donald Trump. He can’t criticize the prosecutors. He can’t criticize witnesses. And Special Counsel Jack Smith just asked for this order to be expanded in an equally unconstitutional way. That has drawn the criticism, even of the ACLU, which is a staunch critic of Donald Trump, but the ACLU has said look, this is flagrantly unconstitutional.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor