Prosecutor seeks gag order on Trump after menacing statements
WASHINGTON: Special Counsel Jack Smith asked a judge Friday to place a gag order on ex-president Donald Trump, saying his inflammatory rhetoric threatens to undermine his coming trial for election subversion.
Smith told the Washington federal court that Trump’s repeated attacks on Justice Department officials, the Washington public, and the judge in the case herself, Tanya Chutkan, could prejudice the jury pool, which is drawn from the local population.
He also said the attacks had resulted in real threats from Trump supporters against prosecutors, the court, and potential jurors.
Trump’s statements “could have a material impact on the impartiality of the jury pool while simultaneously influencing witness testimony,” the filing said.
Anyone reading or hearing Trump’s comments “may reasonably fear that they could be the next targets of the defendant’s attacks,” it said.
Smith asked the judge to forbid Trump from making disparaging, inflammatory or intimidating statements about anyone involved with or potentially involved with the case, and any statements at all on prospective witnesses.
The request cited a number of Trump’s comments after the August 1 indictment, including a menacing social media post that read: “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!”
Trump labelled Chutkan a “fraud” and “Trump-hating”, Smith’s office a “team of thugs”, and Washington “filthy and crime-ridden” with a population “over 95% anti-Trump.”
The filing also cited his attacks on potential witnesses against him, including former vice president Mike Pence.