Special counsel Jack Smith requested a gag order Friday against former President Donald Trump regarding his case involving the alleged mishandling of classified documents, according to a court filing.

Smith filed the request Friday evening asking presiding Judge Aileen Cannon to modify Trump’s “conditions of release,” seeking that it makes clear “he may not make statements that pose a significant, imminent, and foreseeable danger to law enforcement agents participating in the investigation and prosecution of this case.”

“The law enforcement agents participating in this case conducted the search in an appropriate and professional manner, subject to the Department of Justice’s standard use-of-force policy. 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 stated.

“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.”

Smith’s request comes swiftly after court documents were released regarding the language used within the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) authorization of their raid at Mar-A-Lago in August 2022, according to Fox News. As part of the special counsel’s investigation, the federal agency’s “Operations Order” was produced within the released filing, showing that the FBI “believed its objective for the Mar-a-Lago raid was to seize ‘classified information, NDI, and US Government records,’” court documents stated. (Read more from “Jack Smith Requests Gag Order on Trump” HERE)

Special counsel Jack Smith claimed in a court filing this week that former President Donald Trump is using his ongoing criminal trial in New York City to delay his upcoming case involving his handling of classified documents in Florida, Newsweek reports.

Smith wrote in a filing on Monday that Trump is “seeking another postponement” to the case, in which the former president is accused of illegally retaining classified documents, adding that “This time, Trump invokes his New York trial” as a reason for delaying his Florida case, arguing that his legal team will be too preoccupied with his criminal trial to meet the deadlines set by the judge in the classified documents case.

In the filing, Smith stated that Judge Aileen Cannon set a deadline of May 9 for the defense to submit expert witness disclosures, and noted that the Court was “fully apprised of defendant Trump’s New York trial” at the time that date was set.

“Although the defendants’ motion reads as though the Court were unaware of Trump’s other case…those premises are plainly wrong. The defendants have had ample notice that these deadlines would be scheduled and have already had months to complete the work.” (Read more from “Jack Smith Makes the Ludicrous Argument that Trump is Using NY Criminal Case to Delay Florida Federal Case” HERE)

Special counsel Jack Smith called on the Supreme Court on Monday to reject a bid by Donald Trump to invoke presidential immunity to avoid a trial over an alleged effort to subvert the 2020 election results, saying the “Framers” never intended such privileges for former presidents.

The Supreme Court is poised to weigh Trump’s arguments on April 25 that he should not be prosecuted for acts taken while he was still president, namely Smith’s four-count indictment alleging an effort to upend President Joe Biden‘s 2020 election victory. Smith told the justices in a court filing that even if they find that former presidents enjoy some form of immunity, at least some of Trump’s actions were “private conduct” and should be prosecuted.

“The Framers never endorsed criminal immunity for a former President, and all Presidents from the Founding to the modern era have known that after leaving office they faced potential criminal liability for official acts,” Smith told the high court in a 66-page filing.

Smith took aim at several of Trump’s claims that have been made in an effort to convince the court that he should be immune from charges in the case. He pointed out that Trump “suggests that unless a criminal statute expressly names the President, the statute does not apply.”

“That radical suggestion, which would free the President from virtually all criminal law — even crimes such as bribery, murder, treason, and sedition — is unfounded,” the filing said, adding that the text of “nearly all” federal criminal laws covers all individuals, including the president. (Read more from “Jack Smith Tells Supreme Court to Keep Trump Charges” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Former President Donald Trump has accused special counsel Jack Smith of violating a court order that paused proceedings in the case. Trump, through his re-election campaign, is seeking to hold Smith in contempt of court for allegedly defying the stay granted by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan.

The controversy revolves around the stay of proceedings that Judge Chutkan had imposed after Trump’s legal team appealed her decision to reject their request to dismiss the case. The appeal, centering on claims of presidential immunity and double jeopardy, is currently under consideration by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. However, Trump’s attorneys claim that Smith’s team continued making submissions despite the ongoing appeal, violating the stay order.

According to a 15-page filing by Trump’s legal team, prosecutors breached the stay almost immediately by serving thousands of pages of discovery and a “purported” draft exhibit list. The filing alleges that despite a warning from Trump regarding potential relief if such conduct persisted, prosecutors filed a motion containing “partisan rhetoric, including false claims.”

The filing further states, “In this manner, the prosecutors seek to weaponize the Stay to spread political propaganda, knowing that President Trump would not fully respond because the Court relieved him of the burdens of litigation during the Stay. Worse, the prosecutors have announced their intention to continue this partisan-driven misconduct indefinitely, effectively converting this Court’s docket into an arm of [President Joe Biden’s re-election] Campaign.”

Trump’s legal team is now requesting the federal court in Washington, D.C., to order prosecutors to show cause for why they should not be held in contempt. They also seek the withdrawal of their filings, a prohibition on future productions without express permission from the court, and monetary sanctions for attorneys’ fees and expenses incurred in the response.

As of now, Smith’s team has not issued an immediate reply to the filing, and they have declined to comment to the media. In the original stay order, Judge Chutkan emphasized the temporary pause on proceedings but clarified that deadlines and protective measures, such as the gag order against Trump, have not been permanently vacated.

In response to the recent developments, a spokesperson for Trump, Steven Cheung, stated, “Rather than respect the rule of law, Jack Smith unilaterally decided to disobey the stay order and continue with his harassing litigation, all done to keep parroting the pathetic Biden Campaign’s corrupt talking points in the name of election interference. As a result, President Trump is seeking to hold Deranged Jack in contempt of Court. No prosecutor is above the law.”

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

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