A new limited gag order motion has been made by the prosecution team of Special Counsel Jack Smith for former President Donald Trump.
According to The New York Times, the prosecutors informed the judge that the former president had continued to engage in “a sustained campaign of prejudicial public statements” against witnesses, the prosecution, and others since they first requested a gag order three weeks ago.
Trump’s Jan. 6 case is being presided over by U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, who has not yet made a decision on the motion from three weeks ago. However, prosecutors added to that by bringing up comments the former president has made against persons like former Vice President Mike Pence, a potential witness.
The former vice president is not only a prospective witness, but also one of the former president’s rivals for the Republican presidential nomination, which is something the prosecution neglects to mention in their case.
As stated in The Times:
According to the brief, Mr. Trump had criticised William P. Barr as “the former attorney general” in the case, calling him out for failing to do his duty following the election “because he was afraid of being impeached.”
In addition, the prosecution referenced a threatening statement Mr. Trump put on his social media account last week against Gen. Mark A. Milley, the departing chairman of the Joint Chiefs. The former president claimed General Milley had committed treason and might have previously been put to death after the general attacked Mr. Trump in a number of interviews.
No other criminal defendant would be allowed to make statements to the public suggesting that a well-known witness in his case should be put to death.
Even though his aides said otherwise, the prosecutors brought up a campaign trip the former president made to a gun shop where he claimed to want to buy a weapon.
The former president, according to Smith’s prosecutors, “either purchased a gun in violation of the law and his conditions of release or seeks to benefit from his supporters’ mistaken belief that he did so.”
He claims that because he is a political contender, he should be given carte blanche to publicly intimidate witnesses and disparage the court, residents of this district, and prosecutors, the prosecutor said. “He demands special treatment,” the prosecutor added. However, Donald J. Trump is a criminal defendant in this case just like any other.
In a harsh response to the initial gag order request on Tuesday, the ex-president’s defence lawyers charged that Smiths’ prosecutors had engaged in “inflammatory rhetoric” and “violated longstanding rules of prosecutorial ethics.”
The prosecution is now asking the court to take the extraordinary step of denying President Trump his First Amendment rights during the crucial months of his campaign against Vice President Biden, according to defence attorney Gregory M. Singer. “The court ought to reject this obvious game-playing.”
Former GOP Rep. Joe Walsh, a frequent target of the former president, defended the front-runner for the Republican presidential candidature on X, formerly Twitter.