In an ongoing legal saga, Special Counsel Jack Smith has once again sought to impose a gag order on former President Donald Trump, in relation to the case involving classified documents seized from Trump's Mar-A-Lago estate.
This development follows the disclosure that the warrant for the FBI's raid on the property included a clause stating that deadly force would not be authorized unless deemed necessary.
Documents recently made public from the case revealed that the FBI had the authority to employ deadly force if required during the raid on the ex-president's residence. The document stated, "The Order contained a 'Policy Statement' regarding 'Use Of Deadly Force,' which stated, for example, 'Law enforcement officers of the Department of Justice may use deadly force when necessary...'."
On Friday, Smith filed the new motion in the US District Court of Southern Florida. He urged the judge to prevent Trump from making public comments about the raid on his Mar-A-Lago home in West Palm Beach. Smith argued that the former president's rhetoric could potentially endanger the law enforcement personnel assigned to the case.
Smith had previously filed a similar motion, which was emphatically rejected by DC District Court Judge Cannon, who is presiding over the case.
The second motion stated, "The Government moves to modify defendant Donald J. Trump's conditions of release, to make clear that 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 filing further argued that Trump's statements "create a grossly misleading impression about the intentions and conduct of federal law enforcement agents-falsely suggesting that they were complicit in a plot to assassinate him and expose those agents, some of whom will be witnesses at trial, to the risk of threats, violence, and harassment."
In the second motion, Special Counsel Smith included a post made by Trump on Truth Social the day after the first gag order motion was filed on May 24. The post featured a photo of President Biden with the caption, "Biden's DOJ authorized use of deadly force against President Trump in Mar-A-Lago raid."
DC Judge Cannon dismissed Smith's previous motion, citing a violation of court rules as Smith had not consulted with the defense team about the motion, a requirement of the court. Cannon warned Smith of potential sanctions if he were to violate court rules again. Additionally, Judge Cannon criticized Smith's motion for raising "substantive and/or constitutional questions and being "wholly lacking in substance and professional courtesy."
This time, Jay Bratt, a member of Smith's team and a chief in the Justice Department's national security division, liaised with Trump's defense team.
In the certificate of conference on May 29, Bratt noted that the Government had attempted to "resolve the issues" in the motion with Trump's defense team, but to no avail.
The certificate included a statement from Trump's defense team, which read: "President Trump opposes the motion."
The defense team further argued, "On the merits, President Trump's position is that the requested modification is a blatant violation of the First Amendment rights of President Trump and the American people, which would in effect allow President Trump's political opponent to regulate his campaign communications to voters across the country."
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