The MeidasTouch Podcast - Trump BEGS Appeals Court to THREATEN Trial Judge, Claims HECKLER Protection

Episode Date: November 9, 2023

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on Donald Trump’s appeal of the gag order imposed on him by federal judge Tanya Chutkan in the DC federal criminal case.  Get you FREE Quote today at https://SelectQuote.com today! Visit https://meidastouch.com for more! Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast Legal AF: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast The Influence Continuum: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/mea-culpa-with-michael-cohen The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show Burn the Boats: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/burn-the-boats Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 Political Beatdown: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/political-beatdown Lights On with Jessica Denson: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/lights-on-with-jessica-denson On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. They are discriminating against me. They're discriminating against me. They're discriminating against me. Let me be a heckler. I want to be a heckler. That's what Donald Trump is arguing to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in his appeal of the district court judge, Tanya Chutkin's gag order that was imposed upon him for making threats against the court, against the special counsel's office, against the family members of the special counsel's office,

against witnesses. Let's delve into it. I'm Ben Myselis from the Midas Touch Network. The first thing just to remember before addressing Donald Trump's opening brief that was filed with the Court of Appeals, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, appealing Judge Tanya Chutkin's gag order is just how narrow her gag order really is. Her gag order specifically states that Donald Trump is permitted to

criticize the Department of Justice, criticize his political adversaries, to say that this is unfair, to claim things are a witch hunt, to basically do everything he wants to do other than threaten the judge, threaten court staff, threaten the special counsel and the special counsel's team and family members, and threaten witnesses. And Judge Tanya Chukin gave examples. If Donald Trump wants to say this is a witch hunt, this is a politicization of the Department of Justice, if he wants to say they're all coming after him, he can say all of that false stuff. That is not what's under the auspices of the gag order. What he can't do is talk about a witness like the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, and threaten to execute Mark Milley. What Donald Trump can't do is call a witness in the case like his former chief of

staff, Mark Meadows, a weakling and a coward for accepting an immunity deal, which Meadows frankly didn't really even have that much say over, and testifying against Donald Trump. What Donald Trump can't do is say deranged special counsel Jack Smith and post things about Jack Smith's family members because there are some restraints when you are a criminal defendant. There are important First Amendment concerns, and I don't want to understate that, but when you are a criminal defendant, no one is above the law, and there are terms that are put on your release, and you can engage in witness tampering. You can engage in this conduct.

So when Donald Trump makes all of these arguments, I just want you to keep in mind how narrow the gag order is. Well, Donald Trump filed his opening brief, and he's going to the Court of Appeals and begging them. Saying, Court of Appeals, I need your help. Basically, hey, this gag order is discrimination against me. It's an impermissible heckler's veto. I'll explain what that means. This is viewpoint discrimination. I want to be able to threaten witnesses. I want to be able to attack the judge.

I want to be able to make the types of statements that I am making. Let's just take a look at the table of contents just so you can see the main arguments that he is trying to make so the the broad argument trump's making here is that the gag order violates his first amendment rights he says and um and the judge chutkin as well as special counsel jack smith have acknowledged that the first amendment is very important but it doesn't allow you to engage in conduct that could be otherwise illegal or threatening to witnesses or interfere with the orderly administration of justice. And here are the kind of sub-arguments that Donald Trump makes. He says, the gag order is sweepingly overbroad, but as I explained, I believe the gag order is fairly narrow in its

scope. Just don't threaten and attack the judge, the family of special counsel Jack Smith and Jack Smith and his team and witnesses. Just don't do that. Criticize them, whine, complain, do everything you want to do. Just don't threaten witnesses. And then goes to say the gag order involves viewpoint discrimination. And that is where Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans all like to say, we're being discriminated. Our hate speech is being discriminating against. You're deplatforming us. We should be able to spew our hate. This is discrimination against us. These MAGA Republicans like Donald Trump, led by Donald Trump, are the first to play the victim and say they're being discriminated against. He then goes on to say the gag order

shields public figures from public criticism. And he's not saying that people like General Mark Milley or former General Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and former Vice President Pence and Mark Meadows and others, that they deserve to be threatened. And Donald Trump is trying to couch his conduct to them as just mere criticizing public figures. But of course, it goes beyond that when he threatens execution, when he threatens the witnesses, when he mocks witnesses. And by doing so, the implication is you shouldn't be testifying like that, which is a form of witness tampering. Hey, as you know, I'm going to be a dad and the importance of having life insurance has never been top of mind until now. That's why I'm so excited to introduce SelectQuote. SelectQuote has helped people save 50% or more by shopping highly rated insurance carriers. They do the legwork and

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Go to selectquote.com. That's selectquote.com. You're going to feel so good to check this big item off your to-do list. Details on the sample rate at selectquote.com he says that the gag order imposes an impermissible heckler's veto in essence he's saying i'm a heckler and i should be able to go out there and say whatever it is that i want to say and if i radicalize someone you shouldn't blame the person who's out there kind of doing the heckling for the consequences that takes place. And I should be able to go and do what I want. And just think

about that. We're talking about, and I always hate saying this, but it's just the reality, a former president who's saying, you're preventing me from going out there and being a heckler and saying these horrible and horrific things. I mean, it's just so beneath contempt and obviously beneath the office. He goes on to say, the gag order violates the First Amendment rights of tens of millions of Americans who listen to Donald Trump. And so again, it's saying that they, you know, the MAGA extremist base that he's radicalizing, they deserve to hear these threats. They need to be able to hear what he's saying. I mean, you don't get more malignant narcissistic than that in a legal brief like this.

And then it says, gag orders and judicial proceedings require a showing of clear and present danger to the administration of justice. And Trump argues that it does not. He claims that his conduct does not. Look, there's a story in the news today that Fulton County, Georgia election officials have been threatened by receiving letters that are laced with fentanyl. Judge Tanya Chutkin has been threatened. Special Counsel Jack Smith's life has been threatened. There are people now being criminally prosecuted for listening to Donald Trump's posts and acting on those posts. There is a proven track record, including the underlying reason why there even is the case taking place on January 6th with the insurrectionists,

that people listen to what he says when he radicalizes them and they follow his instructions, they follow his orders, and people die, people get harmed, people are impacted by his words in a way that does pose a clear and present danger to the administration of justice. And if you just go through, and I'm not going to read you any significant portion of the intro, but let me just read you a portion just so you see the utter gaslighting taking place right here. Trump goes, the Supreme Court has never allowed the government to prohibit candidates from communicating relevant information to voters during an election. There's never been in the history, and Special Counsel Jack Smith has said this in his briefs

before, you know that from the reporting that we do here, in the history there's never been a former president who's engaged in this behavior. There aren't candidates who behave like this. You know, we talk about when Donald Trump says, you know, only the mafia pleads the fifth, but even the mafia doesn't engage in the conduct that Donald Trump engages in here, which is a combination of dangerous threats mixed with evil buffoonery and weirdness all wrapped together. And then Trump argues, accordingly, no court has ever imposed a gag order on the political speech of a candidate for public office, let alone the leading candidate. On October 17th, the district court entered a sweeping prior restraint on the speech of defendant appellant Donald Trump. And then they referred to him throughout as President Trump,

like hundreds of times in this brief, in the ultimate, just kind of gaslighting. It's so pathetic. And it says, Given its extraordinary nature, no one would expect an extraordinary, one would expect an extraordinary justification for the gag order. None exists. Just think about the language Trump goes. Given its extraordinary nature,

one would expect an extraordinary justification for the gag order. None exists. The gag order rests entirely and wrongfully on a classic heckler's veto. The district court's speculation that Trump's audience might react to his speech with harassment or threats to prosecutors, witnesses, or court staff. It's not speculation. It's happening. It's happened. And it is what he intends. And there is extraordinary circumstances here, threatening execution upon the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, constantly posting this false information about Special Counsel Jack Smith and his family.

You know, it is extraordinary. It is extraordinarily horrific. And that's the opening brief. Special Counsel Jack Smith will respond. You'll recall the panel is made up of two Obama appointees and one Biden appointees, the three judge panel in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. And it should be rolled on in fairly short order, then I think we will potentially see, regardless, an appeal to the United States Supreme Court, but we will keep you posted there. And be prepared, Donald Trump's about to file a barrage of other appellate documents for all of these other motions that he's filing. Trials scheduled for March of 2024.

And Donald Trump's going to try to do everything he can to try to move that trial date. We'll, of course, keep you posted here on all the developments on the Midas Touch Network. Hit subscribe. We're on our way to 2 million subscribers. Thanks to your support and have a great day.