Special counsel Jack Smith asked the judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s classified documents case in Florida on Friday to bar him from making statements that endanger law enforcement.
This is Smith’s second motion in days urging U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to change the conditions of Trump’s release in the case. And like the previous motion, Friday’s motion was based on Trump’s false claims that FBI agents were prepared to kill him during the search for classified documents at Mar-a-Lago in 2022.
“Trump’s repeated misinterpretation of these facts in widely distributed messages as an attempt to kill him, his family, and Secret Service agents has endangered law enforcement officers involved in the “investigation and prosecution of this matter and threatened the integrity of these proceedings,” Smith said. .in the file.
The Trump campaign had claimed in a fundraising email that President Joe Biden was “locked and loaded, ready to take me out,” comments that echoed similar statements by the former president about agents of the FBI.
Trump was not in Florida at the time of the raid, and the FBI said the authorization he apparently referred to was typical language limiting the use of force.
The policy prohibits deadly force except “when the officer has a reasonable belief that the subject of such force presents imminent danger of death or serious injury to the officer or another person,” the motion explains. on Friday.
“Trump, however, grossly misrepresented these standard practices by falsely portraying them as a plan to kill him, his family, and U.S. Secret Service agents,” Smith said in the motion. “These misleading and inflammatory claims irresponsibly put a target on the backs of the FBI agents involved in this matter, as Trump knows well. »
Smith’s previous motion on the matter was denied Tuesday because Cannon argued that the special counsel’s efforts to discuss the matter with Trump’s defense team completely lacked substance and professional courtesy. Trump’s lawyers had argued that by not consulting with the defense before filing the motion, prosecutors violated procedure.
Friday’s motion, however, included a certificate confirming that prosecutors spoke with the defense about the motion via a phone call Wednesday, as well as emails Thursday and Friday.
Trump’s lawyers requested that the certificate include their statement, in which they confirmed that Trump “objects to the motion.”
“As a matter of substance, President Trump’s position is that the requested amendment constitutes a flagrant 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 communications election with voters across the country Trump’s team said.
Prosecutors addressed the First Amendment issue in their motion, arguing that their request did not conflict with the amendment, pointing to pretrial release conditions often including measures restricting certain actions and speech.
Smith’s request echoes the silence order imposed on Trump in the business document falsification case. Judge Juan Merchan imposed a silence that prevents Trump from attacking jurors and witnesses. Trump was fined thousands of dollars for repeatedly violating the silence order.