Judge orders Trump to respond to gag order by deadline

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon has granted former President Donald Trump’s legal team until the middle of June to contest a gag order requested by special counsel Jack Smith in Trump’s classified documents case, as per a report by Newsweek reported.

Smith is seeking to change Trump’s bond conditions and implement a gag order on the ex-president.

Smith argues that a gag order is necessary to safeguard law enforcement agents from the “significant, imminent, and foreseeable danger” posed by Trump’s public statements.

This request comes following Trump’s allegations that the Federal Bureau of Investigation used “DEADLY (LETHAL) FORCE” during the raid on Mar-a-Lago in August 2022.

The motion was initially filed on May 24 but was dismissed by Cannon, who agreed with Trump’s lawyers that the special counsel had not properly consulted with the defense. Cannon criticized Smith’s filing as “wholly lacking in substance and professional courtesy” and dismissed it without prejudice. Smith renewed the request on Friday.

Cannon issued a paperless order on Sunday instructing Trump to respond by June 14, with the government’s reply due by June 21, according to the court docket.

The Justice Department’s initial filing 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.” This, they claim, exposes agents, some of whom will be witnesses at trial, to threats, violence, and harassment.

“A restriction prohibiting future similar statements does not restrict legitimate speech,” the DOJ stated.

In a fundraising email, Trump asserted that the “DOJ was authorized to shoot me,” distorting language from documents prepared prior to the search of his residence. These documents outlined that deadly force could only be used in the face of “imminent danger of death or serious physical injury,” according to The Hill.

Smith emphasized that Trump is aware of the impact his words have on his followers and proposed that a gag order could immediately stop the “dangerous campaign to smear law enforcement.”

In response, Trump’s legal team labeled the government’s request “a blatant violation of the First Amendment rights of President Trump and the American People,” arguing it would essentially allow Trump’s political opponents to control his campaign communications.

Some legal experts have criticized Cannon’s handling of Smith’s gag order requests. Joyce Vance, a former U.S. attorney under President Barack Obama, cautioned in her legal blog, Civil Discourse, that Cannon’s approach could lead to harm during the interim period.

“Special counsel Jack Smith has asked Judge Aileen Cannon — again — to ban Trump from making statements that endanger law enforcement in the classified documents case,” Vance wrote. “Trump has been claiming that the FBI was out to assassinate him when it executed the search warrant at Mar-a-Lago. It simply isn’t the case.”