Former President Donald Trump has compared himself to Al Capone after being hit with a gag order, saying that he's been indicted more times than the notorious Chicago mob boss.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing Trump's federal election subversion trial, issued "narrowly tailored" restrictions on the former president's speech and social media activity during a court hearing on Monday.
Trump was specifically barred from publicly targeting Special Counsel Jack Smith, court staff, prosecutors and potential witnesses. He was not banned from claiming that the prosecution is "politically motivated" or from criticizing President Joe Biden, which the judge said were "critical First Amendment freedoms."
During a 2024 presidential election campaign stop in Iowa after the order was handed down, the ex-president argued that the order was "unconstitutional" and claimed that Chutkan was muzzling his ability to "criticize people."
"Today a judge put on a gag order," Trump said. "I'll be the only politician in history that runs with a gag order where I'm not allowed to criticize people. Can you image this? Do you believe this? I'm not allowed to criticize people ... It's so unconstitutional."
Trump then claimed to be "the only guy that ever got indicted," before comparing himself to Capone.
"I got indicted more than Alphonse Capone," said Trump. "Did anybody ever hear of Al Capone? Al Capone, if you looked at him the wrong way, he was seriously tough, right?"
"Scarface, you know they called him Scarface," he added. "Had a little scar on there, I'm sure it was a minor accident ... If you looked at him the wrong way ... he blew your brains out. He was only indicted one time, I was indicted four times."
Elsewhere during the speech, Trump lamented that he was not able to talk "about things that bad people do" as a result of the gag order, while vowing that his lawyers would be "appealing very quickly."
Newsweek reached out for comment to Trump's office via email on Monday.
Trump is facing a total of 91 felony charges spread across the four criminal indictments that he has faced this year. The former president has pleaded not guilty on all counts and claims to be the victim of a "witch hunt" and "election interference."
While Trump claimed otherwise, Capone was indicted at least as many times as he was and was arrested several other times before his criminal career finally ended.
Capone, once known as "Public Enemy Number 1," was one of the most infamous gangsters in U.S. history as the leader of the prohibition-era mafia crime syndicate known as the Chicago Outfit.
Despite Capone having been suspected in multiple murders and spending nine months in jail following a 1929 incident on a gun charge, his time as a mafia mastermind only ended after federal authorities indicted him three times in 1931 on tax evasion and prohibition-related charges.
Capone was convicted and went on to become a celebrity inmate of the federal prison on California's Alcatraz Island. He was released from prison in November 1939 while suffering from brain damage and other health issues caused by syphilis and died of a heart attack in early 1947.
Trump has compared himself to Capone more than once, having made similar comments about his indictments during campaign stops over the past few weeks.
Last year, during an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, the former president also claimed that he had been through "more investigations than Al Capone, Jesse James and Billy the Kid put together."
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Aila Slisco is a Newsweek night reporter based in New York. Her focus is on reporting national politics, where she ... Read more
