A three-judge panel of the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals largely upheld a lower court ruling that restricted Trump’s speech in the case.

That decision upheld the earlier conclusion of Judge Tanya Chutkan, who prohibited Trump from making statements that “target” foreseeable witnesses, court staff and prosecutors.

But the jury even perfected that directive, denying the former president any statement “made with the intention of materially interfering or causing others to materially interfere” with the course of the case.

Most of the 68-page ruling supports Chutkan’s reasoning for imposing a gag order on the grounds that Trump’s speech could disrupt the case, chill witness participation and inspire real threats and intimidation for those involved.

At the same time, she concluded that his candidate status does not outweigh the need to protect the trial.

“Trump’s documented pattern of speech and its demonstrated real-time, real-world consequences represent a significant and imminent threat to the functioning of the criminal process in this case,” she concluded.

The judges cited the “torrent of threats and intimidation” directed at those targeted by Trump through his supporters, and wrote that some messages are designed to “generate alarm and fear,” The Hill reported.

The D.C. Circuit’s refusal to rehear the case is likely to take the matter to the Supreme Court, meanwhile Trump could ask justices to review the gag order and also ask them to suspend it in that time.

The current one is one of the tycoon’s many battles in the face of the barrage of legal problems that he faces in the midst of his electoral campaign.

The predictable strategy of his defense is to bet on time, that is, to delay the processes as much as possible until after November 5, the date of the general elections.

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