by Julie Kelly at Declassified with Julie Kelly
It was clear from the outset of Monday’s hearing to consider Special Counsel Jack Smith’s proposed gag order that Judge Tanya Chutkan planned to lower the boom on Donald Trump.
Observers in her packed courtroom hung on Chutkan’s every word over the course of nearly two hours; reporters from major news organizations filled nearby media rooms.
The once-aspiring dancer from Jamaica added theatrical flair to the history-making—or rather, breaking—spectacle by smirking, pointing, interrupting, and at times raising her voice at Trump’s defense attorney John Lauro while occasionally tossing out a laugh line or two at the former president’s expense.
But nothing was funny about the proceeding. In fact, after a surreal exchange in which Chutkan and federal prosecutor Molly Gaston discussed whether Trump’s use of the term “Crooked Joe Biden” would fall within the scope of the government’s proposed order, Lauro told the court, “George Orwell would have a field day with what we’re hearing from these prosecutors.”
Indeed.