September 15, 2023
Special counsel Jack Smith has had enough of former President Trump and all his talking.
He wants the Washington DC judge overseeing trump’s federal election interference case to further restrict what the former president can say publicly because Jack Smith says – Trump keeps intimidating and harassing witnesses and tainting the jury pool with his campaign of “disinformation.”
This 19 page filing was just entered into the court of Judge Tanya Chutkan and outlines all the times the former president has – so far violated the rules Judge Chutkan laid out on day one of the proceedings. The motion discusses all the “misleading and inflammatory statements about this case” Trump has made with the goal of undermining the “confidence in the justice system and prejudice the jury pool.” And the special counsel brought receipts. The motion includes screen shots of several trump social media posts where he talks about the prosecutor, the case and the judge.
And the special counsel points out all the times potential witnesses and even the judge herself have received threats as a result of these posts.
So what does the special counsel want?
According to the document, he wants a “narrow, well-defined restriction” on statements made by Trump that “present a serious and substantial danger of materially prejudicing this case.” Specifically, the special counsel wants the judge to prevent trump from making statements about “the identity, testimony, or credibility of prospective witnesses; and statements about any party, witness, attorney, court personnel, or potential jurors that are disparaging and inflammatory, or intimidating.”
The special counsel argues that even if the judge agrees to this request, Trump would still be able to exercise his 1st Amendment rights, and specifically says Trump will still be able to discuss the case and can proclaim his innocence. Just won’t be able to intimidate witnesses or prejudice the jury pool.
Now the former president’s team will respond to this motion and Judge Tanya Chutkan will ultimately rule.
Read the filing from Jack Smith here.
