"Mr Trump, like every American, has a First Amendment right to free speech. But that right is not absolute."

"A defendant's free speech is subject to conditions," Chutkan adds, noting that such speech must "yield to the orderly administration of justice."

We don't think that's how it works judge...

Trump's lawyer Lauro says Trump should retain the right to respond to his political opponents, such as Pence.

Chutkan sharply rebuked:

"The defendant's desire to... respond to political opponents has to yield!"

To which Lauro responds that he worries the judge is setting a 'contempt trap'.

As Techno Fog detailed earlier via The Reactionary substack (subscribe here), this past week, the Government submitted a proposed protective order in its DC case against Donald Trump. It was broad, proposing the Court restrict Trump's ability to communicate any exculpatory evidence to the broader public during the 2024 election: all materials provided by the Government could only be used by Trump and his attorneys "solely in connection with the defense of this case, and for no other purpose."

That request was made to Obama-nominated District of Columbia Federal Judge Tanya Chutkan, who oversees Trump's DC case. For context, that case undoubtedly involves hundreds of witnesses, terabytes of information, and millions of pages of documents. Typically, Judge Chutkan would allow for at least one week for Trump's team to file a response. (the Court's local rules allow 14 days to respond to motions). How do we know that? Because we went through Judge Chutkan's other cases where a protective order was disputed - more on that below.