Special counsel Jack Smith filed a request on Friday for a narrow gag order to be imposed on former President Donald Trump in his 2020 election case in federal court.
Smith, in a filing in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, said he is seeking restrictions on certain “extrajudicial statements” from the former president related to his case involving his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
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“The Government seeks a narrow, well-defined restriction that is targeted at extrajudicial statements that present a serious and substantial danger of materially prejudicing this case. The Government’s proposed order specifies that such statements would include (a) statements regarding the identity, testimony, or credibility of prospective witnesses; and (b) statements about any party, witness, attorney, court personnel, or potential jurors that are disparaging and inflammatory, or intimidating,” the filing said.
Prosecutors use various examples of Trump allegedly making “repeated, inflammatory attacks on the judicial system, the Court, and the citizens of the District of Columbia” as reason for the necessity of a gag order.
“The defendant is now attempting to do the same thing in this criminal case — to undermine confidence in the criminal justice system and prejudice the jury pool through disparaging and inflammatory attacks on the citizens of this District, the Court, prosecutors, and prospective witnesses. The defendant’s conduct presents a ‘substantial likelihood of material prejudice’ to these proceedings, and the Court can and should take steps to restrict such harmful extrajudicial statements,” the filing said.
Judge Tanya Chutkan has given Trump’s lawyers until Sept. 25 to respond to Smith’s motion, while also allowing Smith to respond to Trump’s opposition by Sept. 30.
Trump denounced Smith’s motion while speaking Friday at the Concerned Women for America Leadership Summit at the Capitol Hilton in Washington, D.C.
“Did you see today that deranged Jack Smith — he’s the prosecutor, he’s a deranged person — wants to take away my rights under the First Amendment, wants to take away my right of speaking freely and openly?” Trump said.
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Trump has been indicted four times this year on various charges in separate jurisdictions, including in Washington, D.C. He was indicted on charges related to alleged falsification of business records in Manhattan, alleged mishandling of classified documents in a federal court in Florida, and separate charges on alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election in a Fulton County, Georgia, court and in federal court in Washington.
The former president has denounced and pleaded not guilty to each of the charges in the indictments.
