Washington, DC [US], September 16 : Former US President Donald Trump slammed special counsel Jack Smith hours after the prosecutor asked for a partial gag order to restrict his statements in connection with the trial related to Trump’s alleged effort to overturn the 2020 election, The Hill reported.
The "narrowly tailored" gas order has been requested to restrict Trump's continuous “near-daily” social media attacks on people involved in the case.
Trump claimed that Jack Smith wants to take away his rights under the “First Amendment”.
During a speech at the Concerned Women of America conference in Washington, Trump said, “Deranged Jack Smith, he’s the prosecutor, he’s a deranged person, wants to take away my rights under the First Amendment. He wants to take away my right of speaking freely and openly”.
“Never forget our enemies want to stop us because we are the only ones that can stop them. They want to take away my freedom because I will never let them take away your freedom,” The Hill quoted Trump as saying.
Trump also stated that his public statements are being limited, while he is the “leading Republican nominee and beating the Democrats”.
He also attacked President Biden calling him “incompetent” and accused him of weaponing FBI and the Department of Justice.
“Biden Prosecutor, Deranged Jack Smith, has asked the Court to limit 45th President, and leading Republican Nominee (by more than 50 points, & beating Dems!) DONALD J. TRUMP’S, PUBLIC STATEMENTS,” Trump wrote on Truth Social platform.
He added, “So, I’m campaigning for President against an incompetent person who has WEAPONIZED the DOJ & FBI to go after his Political Opponent, & I am not allowed to COMMENT? They Leak, Lie, & Sue, & they won’t allow me to SPEAK? How else would I explain that Jack Smith is DERANGED, or Crooked Joe is INCOMPETENT?”
Meanwhile, Jack Smith has requested a limited gag order to prevent Trump from saying “certain prejudicial extrajudicial statements,” seeking a “narrow, well-defined restriction” on what the former president can say about the case, The Hill reported.
The order would include limiting what he can say about court testimony and witnesses in order to prevent interference in the trial.
“The defendant knows that when he publicly attacks individuals and institutions, he inspires others to perpetrate threats and harassment against his targets,” prosecutors wrote in the filing.
“Since the indictment in this case, the defendant has spread disparaging and inflammatory public posts on Truth Social on a near-daily basis regarding the citizens of the District of Columbia, the Court, prosecutors, and prospective witnesses,” the Hill quoted the DOJ as saying.
The 19-page gag-order request includes numerous Truth Social posts made by Trump since his four-count indictment in August on charges of conspiracy to defraud the US government and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, according to New York Post.
Smith has cited several posts in which Trump refers to US District Judge Tanya Chutkan as “a fraud dressed up as a judge in Washington, DC who is a radical Obama hack and a biased, Trump-hating judge.”
The special counsel also referenced a post where Trump bemoans that he cannot get a fair trial in Washington, DC, because it is “filthy and crime ridden” and “over 95 per cent anti-Trump,” New York Post reported.
The order has been opposed by Donald Trump’s attorneys.
Notably, the multiple legal cases against Trump includes the four federal indictments with charges related to falsification of business records, mishandling of classified documents after leaving the White House and his alleged efforts to remain in power after losing the 2020 election to President Biden.
In this federal election interference case, led by Smith, the former president was charged with conspiracy to defraud the US, alongside obstruction and other lesser charges, The Hill reported.
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