Trump gag order challenge sharply questioned by appeals court [Video]

A panel of Washington, D.C., federal appeals court judges was highly skeptical of arguments Monday by a lawyer for Donald Trump that the former president is being unconstitutionally silenced by a gag order in his criminal election interference case.

But the judges also expressed concerns about the scope of the gag order and questioned a federal prosecutor about where to draw the lines around Trump’s speech.

The hearing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is the latest clash over the Republican’s bellicose statements about his many criminal and civil cases. Trump’s prosecutors and judges in those cases have warned that his attacks — on social media, at campaign rallies and outside courtrooms — could threaten the safety of those involved and the proceedings themselves.

Trump was slapped with the gag order last month by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who said his statements targeting people involved in the case posed “sufficiently grave …