Did Trump’s Rant Against Bill Barr Violate His Gag Order?

AP Photo/Evan Vucci

Former President Donald Trump may have already violated a new gag order imposed on him by U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan with a rant targeting his old attorney general, Bill Barr.

On Sunday, Chutkan — who is overseeing the federal trial over Trump’s attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election — reimposed a temporary gag order issued and then paused earlier this month.

Trump took to Truth Social to complain about the decision on Sunday night, insisting that it was “NOT CONSTIUTIONAL.”

“It illegally and unconstitutionally takes away my First Amendment Right of Free Speech, in the middle of my campaign for President, where I am leading against BOTH Parties in the Poll,” he continued.

In addition to protesting the order, Trump may have already violated it with a rant about Barr, who has said that he would testify against Trump in the case if he was asked to.

“I called Bill Barr Dumb, Weak, Slow Moving, Lethargic, Gutless, and Lazy, a RINO WHO COULDN’T DO THE JOB,” wrote Trump on Sunday. “He just didn’t want to be Impeached, which the Radical Left Lunatics were preparing to do. I was tough on him in the White House, for good reason, so now this Moron says about me, to get even, ‘his verbal skills are limited.’ Well, that’s one I haven’t heard before. Tell that to the biggest political crowds in the history of politics, by far. Bill Barr is a LOSER!”

Barr, who was handpicked by Trump to serve as his second attorney general, has been extremely critical of his old boss since resigning in December 2020, amidst Trump’s efforts to stay in office.

The previous gag order required Trump to refrain from launching public broadsides against “any reasonably foreseeable witness or the substance of their testimony,” and Chutkan herself has said that Trump’s comments about his former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, would have violated the order had it not been paused.