Special Poll
Special Counsel Jack Smith Files Motion to Restrict Trump’s Public Statements in Classified Documents Case
Special counsel Jack Smith submitted a motion on Friday requesting that the judge overseeing former President Trump’s classified documents case prohibit him from making public statements that could endanger law enforcement.
This latest request echoes a previous one filed last week, urging Judge Aileen Cannon to impose a narrow gag order. The order is in response to the former president’s false claims that the Biden administration was prepared to use deadly force against him during the 2022 search for classified records at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
The motion comes just a day after Trump was convicted in his New York hush money trial, making him the first former president to have a felony conviction.
“Trump’s repeated mischaracterization of these facts in widely distributed messages as an attempt to kill him, his family, and Secret Service agents has endangered law enforcement officers involved in the investigation and prosecution of this case and threatened the integrity of these proceedings,” the filing states. “A restriction prohibiting future similar statements does not restrict legitimate speech. Trump’s conditions of release should therefore be modified to prohibit similar communications going forward.”
In a fundraising email earlier this month, Trump claimed President Biden was “locked & loaded and ready to take me out.” These remarks distorted the standard language in documents prepared as FBI agents were readying to search the Florida resort. In reality, deadly force is only permitted “when necessary,” such as if someone poses an imminent danger to the officer. Smith’s filing also notes that the search was conducted while Trump and his family were out of town.
“The FBI followed these entirely standard and appropriate practices here,” Smith wrote. “Trump, however, has grossly distorted these standard practices by mischaracterizing them as a plan to kill him, his family, and U.S. Secret Service agents.”
“These deceptive and inflammatory assertions irresponsibly put a target on the backs of the FBI agents involved in this case, as Trump well knows,” he added.
Judge Cannon, who has indefinitely postponed the trial citing logistical reasons, denied Smith’s initial request earlier this week. She criticized the prosecutors for not consulting with Trump’s attorneys about the motion to limit his speech.
She also denied a motion from Trump’s legal team seeking to censure the prosecutors over the matter.
In Friday’s filing, Smith included certification that prosecutors had communicated with the defense.
“Government counsel have conferred in a good faith effort to resolve the issues raised in the motion but were unable to do so. Counsel for defendant Trump agreed that no further conferral was necessary,” he wrote.
The court documents include a statement from Trump’s legal team rejecting the motion, calling it a “blatant violation of First Amendment rights.”