Hi, everyone.

It's 4 o'clock in New York and a very busy day of breaking and developing news here in America.

And, of course, overseas with a volatile situation in Israel and in Gaza.

Israeli forces are amassing for a possible ground invasion near the border, while communities

in Israel continue to come under rocket fire from Hamas, even forcing U.S. Secretary of

State Antony Blinken to shelter in place during his visit to Israel.

On the other side of the border, in Gaza, nearly 200 people kidnapped during last Saturday's

terror attack inside Israel are currently being held hostage by Hamas, and a dire humanitarian

crisis is also unfolding.

We'll get to all of it coming up in this broadcast, but we begin with a story that we have

been following very, very closely on this program.

One of the significant consequences for our democracy and for the rule of law in America,

one that will go a long way toward answering questions about whether every criminal

defendant in America is treated the same way.

Earlier today, federal judge Tanya Chukkin imposed a partial gag order on the ex-president

in the federal election interference case.

Donald Trump has been restricted from making statements about potential witnesses and their

testimony in the case, prosecutors and court staff.

The New York Times reports this about the judge's comments in a hearing this morning, quote,

Trump's freedom of speech rights do not permit him to launch a pretrial smear campaign

against those people.

Said the judge Tanya Chukkin, quote, no other defendant would be allowed to do so, and

...