Donald Trump found himself in legal hot water on Friday after an all-caps post he made on Truth Social. The former president’s proclamation came immediately after a post in which he attacked the DOJ, leaving some room for the court to interpret who it was targeted at.

It wasn’t long before special counsel Jack Smith took notice.

At issue are the terms of the former president’s pre-trial release. After his arraignment in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, the following details were reported.

The prosecution and defense have agreed to conditions of former President Donald Trump’s release: He must not violate federal or state laws; he must appear in court as required; he must sign an appearance bond; and he must not communicate about the facts of the case with anyone Trump knows to be a witness, except through counsel or in presence of counsel.

Smith responded by requesting a protective order against Trump to limit his access to discovery. Given Judge Tanya Chutkan’s background, including her being, by far, the harshest judge to deal with January 6th cases, it’s likely she’ll grant it.

As Jonathan Turley notes, the above post from Trump as well as another one he made regarding the Supreme Court were tailor-made to give the judge an excuse to crack down. It’s a completely self-inflicted wound.

 

 

 

 

 

As I’ve said before, you can only operate within the reality you are presented with. One can believe the charges against Trump are weak (as Turley himself does) while also recognizing that putting a gun to one’s own head, legally speaking, is a really bad decision.

Trump’s lawyers are presumably going to ask for the case to be dismissed. This would be the time to go silent and do absolutely nothing to aggravate the judge or make her think he isn’t taking the situation seriously. Instead, Trump is still railing on Truth Social for a segment of fans that already unconditionally support him. Why? What is the point? What does he stand to gain? Because he’s got everything to lose.

Sure enough, Judge Chutkan is now ordering Trump’s legal team to explain why she shouldn’t grand the protective order. That’s not a good sign.

Turley goes on to explain that Trump’s recent call for the Supreme Court to intervene is also self-defeating and is likely to backfire. That’s because it’s going to be nearly impossible for there to be any appellate intervention before the trial. As Leslie McAdoo Gordon, an expert on these matters, explained Friday evening, that’s just not how it works.

Click on the post below to see her full thread and explanation.

In other words, the reality that Trump currently resides in, regardless of how much one may despise the DOJ, is one where he’s going to go to trial with Judge Chutkan overseeing the proceedings. The Supreme Court is not coming to save the day prior to the election, and almost certainly won’t be involved before a possible conviction either. Even then, there are no guarantees they’d get involved or rule in his favor.

Trump has spent tens of millions of dollars on legal fees out of his joint fundraising committee. He needs to let those high-paid lawyers do their jobs. I know I’m going to get flamed for saying this, but he can’t all-caps his way out of this one. What gets his most ardent supporters jazzed up does nothing to help him beat these charges. This isn’t a PR game. It’s a legal game, as partisan as the motivation of the charges may be. The road ahead is long, and Trump would do well to focus on the presidential campaign and not his legal woes, at least publicly.