Trump lets loose after temporary gag order reprieve.
Donald Trump's comments could figure into his legal fight to permanently lift the gag order — or a decision by Tanya Chutkan to reimpose it. | Charles Krupa/APDERRY, N.H. — Other criminal defendants might play it safe when a gag order they’ve been subjected to gets temporarily lifted.At a series of appearances on Monday in New Hampshire, the former president seemed to take delight in flouting the court system that now endangers his livelihood and the judges urging him to watch his mouth.
Trump and his allies have long used the criminal cases against him to rally the MAGA base, an enduring feature of his unique brand of grievance politics. But never have those legal problems so clearly intersected with his political fate. Two Trump-aligned lawyers, Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro, recently agreed to plea deals in the Georgia election interference criminal case, right as Trump is upping efforts to defend his legal cases in the court of public opinion.
“This is the first time in history that somebody’s been indicted and his poll numbers have gone up,” Trump said. “When you get indicted, screw them, because the people understand it’s bullshit.”Earlier in the afternoon, while filing for New Hampshire’s presidential primary ballot at the secretary of state’s office in Concord, Trump said he is not concerned “at all” about losing attorney-client privilege with Powell after he claimed she was never his attorney.
Judges in both cities are weighing concerns that Trump’s social media bombast and penchant for invective against his perceived enemies could poison the jury pool in his criminal cases or spook witnesses from being fully candid. His comments, and any others he makes on the campaign trail or Truth Social, could figure into his legal fight to permanently lift the gag order — or a decision by Chutkan to reimpose it.
Trump appeared to stay within those bounds at his Derry rally, where nearly 2,000 supporters from across New England packed into a gymnasium to see him.