A federal court filing outlining a “pattern” of threats against former President Donald Trump’s “targets” seeks a gag order against the former president.
Special counsel Jack Smith asked U.S. District Judge Tanya Chatkan to impose a “narrowly tailored” gag order on Trump in a motion filed Friday. Chatkan is overseeing Trump’s case on four felony charges related to interference in the 2020 presidential election and the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges and claimed he was the victim of a “witch hunt.”
In response newsweek’s On Friday night, Trump spokesman Steven Chang said in a statement that Smith’s motion showed “Crooked Joe Biden’s weaponized Department of Justice is corruptly and cynically continuing to try to strip President Trump of his First Amendment Rights.”
“This is nothing more than blatant interference in the election because President Trump is by far the leading candidate in this race,” Zhang added. “The American people – the voters – see through this unconstitutional charade and will turn Trump into a President Trump sent back to the White House.”
Megan Varner
Smith’s filing alleges that Trump’s continued claims that the 2020 election was “stolen” by President Joe Biden — despite courts rejecting his claims of voter fraud more than 60 times — has “trained him to focus on the electoral system.” , and officials investigated the matter in the months between his defeat on November 3, 2020, and the siege of the Capitol on January 6.
“As a result, the defendant created widespread distrust in election administration and the individuals he targeted were threatened and harassed,” the filing continues, before citing several specific examples.
While the names of the “targets” were redacted in the filing, examples include Trump badgering a Republican election official in Pennsylvania on social media who argued there was no evidence of any significant fraud. The official said “vivid” threats were made against him and his family after Trump drew attention.
Other officials named by Trump said they had also received threats of violence as a result, including at least one who shared his home address online and another who needed police protection because of threats from Trump supporters, the documents show. .
The documents also detail threats against a federal cybersecurity official who was fired by Trump after declaring the election secure, including a statement from Trump’s lawyer who said the official “should be fired” “Rabbed and quartered” and “taken away” at dawn, shot to death for refusing to support the claims of the losers of the 2020 election.
The document also highlights Trump’s recent social media posts, including a “Truth Society” post that saw the former president threaten to “go after” those who “come after” him, as well as comments about Chatkan and more attacks by others involved in his three criminal proceedings.
Smith’s filing said Trump “knows that when he publicly attacks individuals and institutions, he inspires others to threaten and harass his targets.”
“The defendant continued to engage in these attacks against individuals precisely because he knew that doing so would disrupt the public and mobilize and energize his supporters,” the document continued. “As he stated in a televised town hall on May 10, 2023 As admitted, his supporters ‘don’t listen to him like others’.”
