Former President Trump’s protracted legal battles appear to be encountering obstacles in their effort to prosecute him, as even Democrats consider the gag orders to be unconstitutional and the antagonistic conduct of prosecutors to be intolerable.
There is currently speculation that additional charges may be levied against the former president, despite the extremely low probability of an actual violation.
Washington Examiner reports:
Former President Donald Trump could find himself in more legal trouble after a priceless gun was reportedly auctioned off from his Mar-a-Lago collection, possibly violating the conditions of his federal indictment.
During a charity event at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home last weekend, a gun described as a “one of a kind Trump Glock from the 45th President of the United States Donald J. Trump” was sold at the auction, according to pictures and videos obtained by Meidas Touch News. That could land Trump in further legal trouble as federal law prohibits individuals who are under federal indictment from buying or selling firearms.
Videos obtained by the outlet show the bidding began at $10,000, although it’s not entirely clear how much the firearm was sold for. However, the individual who purchased the gun could also find themselves in trouble for purchasing the gun from Trump when his federal indictments are so publicly known.
Both Trump and the purchaser could face prison time for the auctioning, according to federal gun prohibitions laid out in the Gun Control Act enforced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
Trump recently landed himself in trouble with that law after his campaign posted a photo of the former president holding a gun at Palmetto State Armory in South Carolina earlier this year with the caption, “President Trump purchases a @GLOCKInc in South Carolina!” The campaign later deleted the post, clarifying that Trump did not purchase the firearm but merely “indicated that he wanted one.”
Some pictures obtained by Meidas Touch show Trump present at the auction, although those have not been independently verified by the Washington Examiner. A spokesperson for the former president has not yet responded to a request for comment.
The aforementioned assertions by the Democrats, which equate “wanting one” with the actual purchase of a firearm, are tantamount to groping at straws.
In light of the fact that Trump manages to organize increasingly sizable campaign rallies despite facing numerous legal challenges, gag orders appear to be one method by which the Democrats attempt to stifle his speech.
A brief authored by Trump in Washington, D.C., in response to Judge Tanya Chutkan’s prohibition order, asserts that the order is without justification and infringes upon his First Amendment rights.
According to the New York Times, the former president’s attorneys claim he is “being muzzled in the midst of a campaign.”
The Hill reports:
“The filing, which comes after several rounds of earlier briefs on the gag order. largely repeats Trump’s arguments that they are a violation of his First Amendment rights, contending ehey are especially important to the candidate for office.
“But they also dismiss Chutkan’s decision as ‘speculation’ that President Trump’s audience might react to his speech with ‘harassment’ or ‘threats’ to prosecutors, witnesses, or court staff.”
“President Trump has made many public statements about this case in the three months since his indictment, and yet the Department of Justice…submitted no evidence of any ‘threats’ or ‘harassment’to prosecutors, witnesses, or court staff during that time,” his attorneys wrote.
Arthur Engoron, a judge and jury member notorious for his hostility, issued a new expanded silence order on Friday in New York.
The order “…prohibits public statements by attorneys in the case regarding the judge’s communications with his staff,” according to Reuters.
Following the initial silence order imposed by Engoron on Trump on October 3, the judge has reportedly fined Trump $15,000 for his two violations of the gag order, according to Reuters. After a member of Trump’s legal team, Christopher Kise, objected to the clerk passing notes to the judge during the trial, the expanded gag order was extended to include attorneys as well.
“Defense lawyers in the case have made repeated objections about the working relationship between the judge and his clerk,including suggestions that she was biased. Trump has also accused her of bias.”
Remarkably, the Democratic judge has expressed the view that certain First Amendment rights—specifically, those of former President Trump—are more significant than others.
Engoron wrote, “The First Amendment right of defendents and their attorneys to comment on my staff is far and away outweighed by the need to protect them from threats and physical harm.”
It is noteworthy that there have been no reported incidents of damage being inflicted upon any of the staff members in question.
Engoron continued, “Failure to honor the gag order shall result in serious santions.” It seems that silencing the defendent is the main objective in the matter.
Trump has pleaded not guilty in each of the four pending cases in which he has been accused of misconduct. He has denied all allegations.