Donald Trump’s Game of Chicken with Judge in Jan. 6 Criminal Case Enters a New and Uncertain Phase

The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s criminal case on charges of trying to overturn the 2020 election warned the former president and current GOP frontrunner on Friday against intimidating witnesses or revealing sensitive information shared with his defense attorneys. 

But whether it will stick is another matter.

Trump is famous for launching direct attacks on social media, on the campaign trail and in interviews at anyone he perceives as a rival or threat.

In just under two weeks since Trump was charged with conspiring to overturn his 2020 election loss, the former president has issued a series of attacks on his social media site against the judge presiding over his January 6 criminal case, the Georgia prosecutor who could file additional charges soon, the special counsel investigating him and two potential witnesses in the case, former Vice President Mike Pence and his longtime top adviser Marc Short. 

He also issued a broadly worded threat, “If you go after me, I’m coming after you!” which spurred prosecutors to seek a protective order against him. After Trump issued the vague threat last week, his campaign issued an unattributed statement saying it was directed at the Koch brothers political operation and other Republicans. 

And he’ll have many high-profile opportunities to tell the public and the media just what he thinks about Special Counsel Jack Smith’s cases against him – including a federal prosecution related to Trump’s handling of classified documents. Trump is scheduled to appear at the Iowa State Fair Saturday and may show up at the first Republican debate in just under two weeks. 

"Your client's defense is supposed to happen in this courtroom, not on the internet, and to the extent your client wants to make statements on the internet they always have to yield to witness security and witness safety,” Judge Tanya Chutkan told Trump’s lawyers in court on Friday.

A few hours later, Chutkan issued a protective order limiting what the former president and his team can share from discovery in the criminal case. 

Spokespeople for Trump’s campaign didn’t return a request for comment Friday afternoon. Spokespeople for Pence didn’t return a request for comment. 

But Trump’s supporters defended him Friday. 

“This is still America and he should be able to speak,” Corey Lewandowski, one of Trump’s 2016 campaign managers and a longtime confidant, told The Messenger. 

But Republican operatives, including some close with Trump, have been chattering for weeks that it may be a mistake for him to appear in a venue where he will undoubtedly be asked about the January 6 insurrection and the criminal case.  

Trump himself seems to have gotten at least some of the message that his wild, unfounded attacks could seriously hurt him now that he is a criminal defendant. 

In an interview with NewsMax earlier this week, Trump tempered his false claims that he won the 2020 election, with lawyerly hedging. 

“I believe I won that election by many, many votes, many, many hundreds of thousands of votes,” Trump said on NewsMax. “That’s my opinion, and it’s a strong opinion.”

Trump’s lead defense attorney, John Lauro, spent last weekend on television arguing the former president’s case on the major networks, saying Trump has a First Amendment right to exercise free speech. 

Lauro also pressed to delay the trial past the 2024 election. But Chutkan also said that if Trump and his team continue making “inflammatory statements” the trial will move even faster. 

The special counsel trying Trump is seeking a January 2 start to the historic trial, Trump’s team is still pushing to delay the trial and have it moved to West Virginia.