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The judge presiding over Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s case against Donald Trump, the leading 2024 GOP presidential contender, and several other co-defendants could face a gag order.
Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee warned Willis could face a gag order that would prevent her from discussing the case in public, The Epoch Times reports.
The outlet added:
Her speech came just days after allegations surfaced that she engaged in an improper relationship with special counsel Nathan Wade, whom she appointed to head the Trump election interference case in Georgia.
During the speech, Ms. Willis invoked the “race card” without citing evidence of racial animus and criticized a Fulton County Commissioner “and so many others” for criticizing her decision to hire Mr. Wade.
“In these public and televised comments, the District Attorney complained that a Fulton County Commissioner ‘and so many others’ questioned her decision to hire SADA Wade. When referring to her detractors throughout the speech, she frequently utilized the plural ‘they,’” McAfee wrote.
“The State argues the speech was not aimed at any of the Defendants in this case. Maybe so. But maybe not. Therein lies the danger of public comment by a prosecuting attorney,” his order noted further. “By including a reference to ‘so many others’ on the heels of Defendant Roman’s motion which instigated the entire controversy, the District Attorney left that question open for the public to consider.
“The Court cannot find that this speech crossed the line to the point where the Defendants have been denied the opportunity for a fundamentally fair trial, or that it requires the District Attorney’s disqualification,” he stated.
“But it was still legally improper. Providing this type of public comment creates dangerous waters for the District Attorney to wade further into,” McAfee wrote.
Meanwhile, the judge who levied the outrageously high fine against the former president in his civil fraud case earlier this year has issued a new order.
Judge Arthur Engoron “ordered the Republican presumptive presidential nominee to inform the court of any attempt to secure a bond ahead of Monday’s deadline,” Newsmax reported. Trump has until then to come up with $454 million or New York Attorney General Letitia James, who filed the civil lawsuit against Trump, is preparing to seize some of his properties in the state.
Engoron, in his order, “said the Trump Organization needs to provide details on any attempt to secure a bond to the court-appointed monitor, former federal Judge Barbara Jones,” the outlet’s report noted.
“The Trump Organization shall inform the Monitor, in advance, of any efforts to secure surety bonds,” Engoron said in his order, as well as “any personal guarantees made by any of the Defendants,” per NBC News.
It’s uncertain why Engoron made the ruling so close to Monday’s deadline. However, the ruling coincides with Trump’s legal team’s efforts to persuade an appellate court on Thursday to exempt him from paying the fine before his appeal, arguing that he would suffer “irreparable harm” if required to pay before the appeal is resolved.
Earlier on Thursday, Trump turned to social media to criticize Engoron for placing him in an “impossible” situation where he would either have to forfeit assets or pay hundreds of millions of dollars.
“If I sold assets, and then won the Appeal, the assets would be forever gone. Also, putting up money before an Appeal is VERY EXPENSIVE. When I win the Appeal, all of that money is gone, and I would have done nothing wrong,” Trump said in a Truth Social post. “He gave us a demand which he knows is impossible to do.”
But on Friday morning, Trump posted an update on his Truth Social platform, noting in all caps that he has raised the required amount of capital:
THROUGH HARD WORK, TALENT, AND LUCK, I CURRENTLY HAVE ALMOST FIVE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS IN CASH, A SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNT OF WHICH I INTENDED TO USE IN MY CAMPAIGN FOR PRESIDENT. THE OFTEN OVERTURNED POLITICAL HACK JUDGE ON THE RIGGED AND CORRUPT A.G. CASE, WHERE I HAVE DONE NOTHING WRONG, KNEW THIS, WANTED TO TAKE IT AWAY FROM ME, AND THAT’S WHERE AND WHY HE CAME UP WITH THE SHOCKING NUMBER WHICH, COUPLED WITH HIS CRAZY INTEREST DEMAND, IS APPROXIMATELY $454,000,000. I DID NOTHING WRONG EXCEPT WIN AN ELECTION IN 2016 THAT I WASN’T EXPECTED TO WIN, DID EVEN BETTER IN 2020, AND NOW LEAD, BY A LOT, IN 2024. THIS IS COMMUNISM IN AMERICA!
