WASHINGTON: Prosecutors have asked a US judge to limit information Donald Trump can publicly discuss regarding the latest indictments against him, citing a threatening post by the ex-president which his campaign defended Saturday as “political speech.”
Jack Smith, the special counsel overseeing the charges against Trump for seeking to overturn the 2020 election, filed a motion Friday evening urging a federal judge to impose a protective order regarding discovery evidence to prevent the former president from revealing details about the case. The new development came just hours after Trump defied a judge who had warned him not to discuss the case with any potential witnesses and posted what is being seen as a bald threat on his social media platform. “If you go after me, I’m coming after you!” Trump posted Friday on Truth Social.
Trump, the Republican frontrunner for his party’s nomination in the 2024 presidential election, has pleaded not guilty to the four election conspiracy and obstruction charges — the most serious in the multiple cases he faces.
The aggressive, all-caps social media post was cited and displayed in Smith’s motion to US District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan, which referenced Trump’s previous history of attacking people who were connected to criminal cases against him.
“All the proposed order seeks to prevent is the improper dissemination or use of discovery materials, including to the public,” Smith and his team wrote in the motion. “Such a restriction is particularly important in this case because the defendant has previously issued public statements on social media regarding witnesses, judges, attorneys, and others associated with legal matters pending against him.”
The motion went on to say that if the defendant were to issue public posts about details or grand jury transcripts obtained during the discovery process, “it could have a harmful, chilling effect on witnesses or adversely affect the fair administration of justice in this case.”
Trump’s campaign quickly pushed back. “The Truth post cited is the definition of political speech,” a Trump spokesperson said in a statement early Saturday, which suggested the 77-year-old billionaire was referring to his political opponents and not to anyone involved in the election interference case.
The back and forth is certain to inflame the tensions in Washington over Trump’s legal peril, which he and several Republican leaders have framed as an effort by President Joe Biden’s administration to sideline the Democrat’s chief political rival.
On Friday night in Alabama, Trump appeared before supporters and branded the indictments against him “an act of desperation by a failed, disgraced, crooked Joe Biden and his radical left thugs to preserve their grip on power.” The White House has stressed that the Department of Justice operates independently and that Biden’s team has no involvement in the cases against Trump.