Former President Donald Trump took to his Truth Social account on Wednesday to whine that he can't say everything he wants about Vice President Kamala Harris, his likely opponent in November, because of a gag order imposed on him in his legal cases.
"The Gag Order unConstitutionally placed on me is interfering with my Campaign against Lyin’ Kamala Harris," Trump raged. "This is a FIRST in American History - A Highly Conflicted Democrat Judge putting a Gag Order on the Leading Candidate for President to benefit my Democrat Opponent."
"Can this really be allowed to stand?" he raged.
It is unclear what Trump means. Presumably, he is referring to the gag order in the Manhattan hush money case, where he was recently convicted on 34 counts of felony falsification of business records.
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But that order, which was partially lifted last month by Judge Juan Merchan, does not prohibit him from making political statements on the campaign trail about Harris or anyone else; it just narrowly prohibited him from intimidating jurors or witnesses in the case. He has been subject to a number of other gag orders in various civil and criminal cases, but none appear to prevent him from criticizing Harris.
An alternate possibility is that Trump fears responding to Harris' attacks on him for being adjudicated to have sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll in a civil suit. The risk there is less the possibility of a gag order, but that Carroll could sue him again for repeating his attacks that he has no idea who she is and that she fabricated her rape claims to advance her career.
Harris became the likely nominee for the presidency after President Joe Biden, dogged for weeks by pressure from his own party over his health and fitness, withdrew from his campaign to seek a second term and endorsed her to take his place.
