Federal judge rejects gag order on Trump, warns Jack Smith of consequences

Special counsel Jack Smith was dealt another blow Tuesday in his ongoing effort to quash former President Donald Trump’s freedom of speech in the face of Democratic warfare being waged against him in the courts.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, in the Southern District of Florida, denied Smith’s demand that Trump be smothered with a gag order to prevent Trump from speaking out against the Biden administration’s approval for the FBI to use deadly force if necessary when it raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club home in Palm Beach in August of 2022.

Smith’s office filed the motion on Friday, seeking to stifle Trump from calling out Biden for giving the FBI the legal cover to do what Trump called “the unthinkable.”

“BIDEN’S DOJ WAS AUTHORIZED TO SHOOT ME!,” Trump wrote in a fundraising email, according to a New York Times report Wednesday. “It’s just been revealed that Biden’s DOJ was authorized to use DEADLY FORCE for their DESPICABLE raid in Mar-a-Lago. You know they’re just itching to do the unthinkable … Joe Biden was locked & loaded ready to take me out & put my family in danger.”

But Cannon denied Smith’s motion, adding that, “the Special Counsel’s pro forma ‘conferral’ to be wholly lacking in substance and professional courtesy,” The Hill reported.

Both parties in the case are required to confer with each other before filing motions with the court, according to The Hill.

Smith’s team did not do so until sending an email to Trump attorneys at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, the day before a holiday weekend, The Hill reported.

BREAKING: Judge Cannon, as expected, denies Jack Smith’s proposed gag order, warns sanctions could be next if he keeps violating the rules. pic.twitter.com/T2Yxb1zvm6

— Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) May 28, 2024

Smith had demanded that Cannon rule that Trump “may not make statements that pose a significant, imminent, and foreseeable danger to law enforcement agents.”

But Cannon found the request lacked merit and violated rules to give due time and to confer with the defense team.

Along with slapping down Smith’s request on the merits, Cannon went on to scold Smith for the prosecution team’s disregard of procedure.

“It should go without saying that meaningful conferral is not a perfunctory exercise. Sufficient time needs to be afforded to permit reasonable evaluation of the requested relief by opposing counsel and to allow for adequate follow-up discussion,” Cannon wrote.

Cannon also included rules to force Smith’s team to confer with Trump attorneys before filing future motions, writing that, “Failure to comply with these requirements may result in sanctions.”

Trump’s legal team also filed a motion over the Memorial Day weekend blasting Smith’s gag order demand, and calling Smith’s request to quash the former president’s freedom of speech was an “extraordinary, unprecedented, and unconstitutional censorship application,” CNN reported.

Trump attorneys also said that Smith — whom they called a “self-appointed Thought Police” — was “seeking to condition President Trump’s liberty on his compliance” with Smith’s personal political views.

This is not the first time that Smith has sought to slap Trump with a gag order. Smith obtained a partial gag order against Trump in relation to the election interference case Smith has brought against the former president in Washington, D.C.

That order has been upheld by the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, according to The New York Times.

Trump is also under a gag order in relation to his “hush money” trial in Manhattan, which is nearing its end.