Read the Court’s Rules for Trump on What He Can and Cannot Say About His Jan. 6 Criminal Case

A federal judge on Friday signed off on a strict series of ground rules that Donald Trump must follow as he begins to review the federal government's evidence ahead of his criminal trial on allegations he was part of a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results.

The five-page document governing those rules, known as a protective order, rarely inspires much controversy. They do not restrict general commentary about a criminal case, only the disclosure of certain evidence shared with the defense. But Trump's attorneys already have portrayed it as a blueprint for censoring the GOP's frontrunner as he runs for a second term in 2024.

U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan approved the order and it is now public. You can read it directly here:

Earlier on Friday, Trump's attorneys and prosecutors debated the boundaries of the order, and each side landed significant victories. A judge agreed with Trump's attorneys that prosecutors shouldn't have restricted the dissemination of information marked as "non-sensitive," but she sharply disagreed with the position of Trump's legal team and the former president should be able to disseminate recordings, transcripts and other records of witness interviews however he'd like. She also shot down a proposal by Trump's legal team to let consultants and unpaid volunteers see sensitive information.

"I live in Washington: Anyone is a consultant," Chutkan quipped.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith, who has proposed an aggressive schedule that would put the former president on trial on Jan. 2, 2024, four days before the third anniversary of the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol that is a cornerstone of the indictment.

The former president's lawyers face a deadline next Thursday to turn in their proposal for the start of Trump's trial, with expectations they'll suggest a date long after Election Day, 2024. Chutkan is expected to address the schedule when she next brings the attorneys together for a hearing on Aug. 28 in Washington, D.C.