Donald Trump May Have Just Broken His Gag Order

Donald Trump may have violated his gag order imposed against him in his federal election case after he attacked former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr as a “coward.”

Speaking at the Young Republican Club’s 111th annual gala in New York on Saturday night, Trump promised he would not rehire Barr back as attorney general if reelected president, while also criticizing him for refusing to support the former president’s election fraud claims.

“I make this commitment to you tonight. We will not have Bill Barr as our attorney general, is that OK?” Trump said. “He was a coward. He was afraid of being impeached.”

Barr resigned as attorney general in December 2020 after Trump continued to falsely say the election he lost to President Joe Biden was “stolen” due to unproven widespread voter fraud, even after Barr publicly stated that the Department of Justice had found no evidence to back up the claims.

There are now suggestions that Barr could be called upon as a witness in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s election interference case against Trump, where the former president has pleaded not guilty to four charges.

Federal prosecutors are hoping to show to a jury that Trump was well aware he lost the 2020 race fairly, but continued to push false election fraud claims which ultimately resulted in the January 6 attack at the Capitol.

If Barr is a potential witness in the federal trial, then Trump’s comments may have violated the gag order imposed by Judge Tanya Chutkan, which was largely upheld by an appeals court on Friday.

The slightly narrowed gag order allows Trump to personally attack Smith ahead of his March 2024 trial, but is prohibited from “making or directing others to make public statements about known or reasonably foreseeable witnesses concerning their potential participation in the investigation or in this criminal proceeding.”

Allison Gill, who posts on X, formerly Twitter, using the account for the Mueller, She Wrote podcast, was one of those who suggested Trump violated his gag order with his comments on Barr.

“Tonight in a speech, Trump called Bill Barr a coward. The D.C. circuit court of appeals had already reinstated the gag order preventing him from attacking foreseeable witnesses in the D.C. case,” she wrote. “Bill Barr is a foreseeable witness. Trump has violated the gag order.”

Ben Meiselas, co-founder of the liberal news website Meidas Touch, also suggested Trump likely violated his gag order during his speech.

Trump’s legal team has been contacted for comment via email. Smith’s office declined to comment when contacted by Newsweek.

Trump, the frontrunner in the GOP presidential primary, has frequently accused the gag order of being a violation of his First Amendment right amid his latest White House campaign.

“An Appeals Court has just largely upheld the Gag Order against me in the ridiculous J6 Case, where the Unselect January 6th Committee deleted and destroyed almost all Documents and Evidence, saying that I can be barred from talking and, in effect, telling the truth,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“In other words, people can speak violently and viciously against me, or attack me in any form, but I am not allowed to respond, in kind. What is becoming of our First Amendment, what is becoming of our Country? We will appeal this decision!”

‘I Want To Be a Dictator for One Day’

Elsewhere during his speech at the Young Republican Club’s gala, Trump repeated his remarks that he wants to be dictator “for one day” if he is reelected president to implement some of his policies.

Trump was heavily criticized after he told Fox News’ Sean Hannity during a recent town hall that he would not abuse his power as president “except for day one,” because he wants to “close the border and I want to drill, drill, drill,” in reference to his vow to expand oil drilling in the U.S.

When Hannity responded with, with “that’s not retribution,” Trump adds: “I love this guy, he says, ‘you’re not going to be a dictator are you?’ I said no, no, no, other than day one. We’re closing the border and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I’m not a dictator.”

During his Saturday speech, Trump repeated his claim that he wants to be dictator “one day” if he reenters the White House.

“[Peter] Baker today in The New York Times, he said that I want to be a dictator. I didn’t say that, I said I want to be a dictator for one day,” Trump said.

“And you know why I wanted to be a dictator? Because I want a wall, right? I want a wall and I want to drill, drill, drill.”