In August, Special Counsel Jack Smith said that former President Donald Trump had been charged by a federal grand jury. He pleaded not guilty to four counts connected to his efforts to change the results of the 2020 election and has stuck to that. Aside from that, he has made noise about the charges and used his fame to attack people who are connected to the case.
Now, the prosecutors are asking a federal judge to make people not talk about what happened. The lawyers for the former president have responded with a First Amendment case.
Gag Order Request
Smith asked the US District Court for the District of Columbia to put a gag order in place on September 15. The document said that Trump’s speeches and social media posts criticizing the people involved would “undermine the integrity” of the court processes and “prejudice the jury pool.”
In the document, it was said that Trump has “repeatedly and widely” attacked people in DC, lawyers, and witnesses. So that the former president can’t attack people involved in the case, the special counsel wants the judge to issue a “narrowly tailored” gag order.
If the judge approves the request, it would prevent Trump from making “statements about any party, witness, attorney, court personnel, or potential jurors” that could be seen as intimidating or inflammatory. It would also prevent him from speaking out about anything related to the “identity, testimony, or credibility of prospective witnesses” of those involved in the case. He would still be allowed to proclaim his innocence and quote material from the publicly released court records.
Trump Team Responds
Trump’s attorneys responded in a September 25 filing. They claimed the grand jury’s indictment “read very much like a campaign press release” and accused the special counsel of attacking the former POTUS. The defense argued the prosecutor is now asking the court to strip “Trump of his First Amendment freedoms during the most important months of his campaign against President [Joe] Biden.”
Lawyers for Trump’s defense say that prosecutors want to “unconstitutionally silence” the former president but not Biden. The 46th president hasn’t said anything about the case yet.
The defense team also criticized the special counsel for not showing proof of the claims that Trump threatened witnesses and people living in DC. Mr. Singer, the lawyer, asked Judge Tanya S. Chutkan to “reject this transparent gamesmanship.”
Chutkan had earlier told the former president that she would do what she could to protect the case’s integrity. It’s not clear when the judge will decide. In March 2024, Trump is set to go to court.
