Judge Sets Deadline for Trump to Oppose Gag Order

(Dreamstime)

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon gave former President Donald Trump’s legal team to mid-June to oppose a gag order requested by special counsel Jack Smith in Trump’s classified documents case, Newsweek reported.

Smith is seeking to modify Trump’s bond conditions and impose a gag order on the former president.

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

This request followed Trump’s claims 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 May 24 but was dismissed by Cannon, who agreed with Trump’s lawyers that the special counsel had not adequately conferred with the defense. Cannon criticized Smith’s filing as “wholly lacking in substance and professional courtesy” and dismissed it without prejudice. Smith renewed his request on Friday.

Cannon on Sunday issued a paperless order directing 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 contended 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 argue, 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 said.

Trump had asserted in a fundraising email that the “DOJ was authorized to shoot me,” distorting language from documents prepared ahead of the search of his home. These documents stipulated that deadly force could only be used if agents faced “imminent danger of death or serious physical injury,” according to The Hill.

Smith emphasized that Trump is aware of the influence his words have over his supporters and suggested that a gag order could “immediately” halt 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 effectively allow Trump’s political opponents to control his campaign communications.

Cannon’s handling of Smith’s gag order requests has faced criticism from some legal experts. Joyce Vance, a former U.S. attorney under President Barack Obama, cautioned in her legal blog, Civil Discourse, that Cannon’s approach could result in harm during the interim period.

“Special counsel Jack Smith has asked Judge Aileen Cannon — again — to bar 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.”