Federal judge warns of Trump’s attacks in extraordinary rebuke

A sitting federal judge on Thursday harshly criticized Donald Trump’s attacks on the judge overseeing the former president’s criminal case tied to alleged hush money payments, telling CNN that such statements threaten the viability of the American legal system.   US District Judge Reggie Walton spoke with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on “The Source” in the wake of Trump’s attacks on Judge Juan Merchan, which helped prompt the New York judge to issue a gag order on the former president earlier this week. It is unusual for federal judges to speak publicly, especially about specific political or legal situations.   “It’s very disconcerting to have someone making comments about a judge, and it’s particularly problematic when those comments are in the form of a threat, especially if they’re directed at one’s family,” said Walton, who has also faced threats, as has his daughter. “We do these jobs because we’re committed to the rule of law and we believe in the rule of law, and the rule of law can only function effectively when we have judges who are prepared to carry out their duties without the threat of potential physical harm.”   “I think it’s important in order to preserve our democracy that we maintain the rule of law,” Walton said in the interview. “And the rule of law can only be maintained if we have independent judicial officers who are able to do their job and ensure that the laws are, in fact, enforced and that the laws are applied equally to everybody who appears in our courthouse.”   “I think it’s important that, as judges, we speak out and say things in reference to things that conceivably are going to impact on the process, because if we don’t have a viable court system that’s able to function efficiently, then we have tyranny. And I don’t think that would be good for the future of our country, and the future of democracy in our country,” he continued.   In addition to the New York case and other legal matters, Trump is criminally charged in a federal election interference case, where he faces a likely trial in the courtroom of Judge Tanya Chutkan, one of Walton’s colleagues in the DC District Court. A gag order on Trump in his federal 2020 election case that limits his ability to speak about court staff in a way that could influence his case has been upheld by the appeals courts. Yet Trump continues to rail about judges and others involved in his court cases elsewhere when gag orders don’t limit him. The use of court-imposed gag orders against him have become more widespread in recent months as the former president heads toward criminal trials and because of the history of documented threats his public attacks have inspired.