Judge Denies Jack Smith’s Gag Order Request in Trump Documents Case

On Tuesday, special counsel Jack Smith‘s bid for a gag order against former President Donald Trump in his classified documents case got rejected by the presiding federal judge in Florida.

Federal prosecutors’ attempt to confer with Trump’s counsel before filing the request was “wholly lacking in substance and professional courtesy,” Judge Aileen Cannon wrote in a paperless order.

Cannon said the request was denied without prejudice, meaning Smith could try again, but she warned a failure to provide adequate time for discussion between the parties may result in sanctions.

JUST IN: Judge CANNON has denied Jack Smith’s gag order request in FL, saying prosecutors’ effort to confer with defense before filing it was “wholly lacking in substance and professional courtesy.” pic.twitter.com/E0Ri84l7si

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) May 28, 2024

Smith’s team sought the gag order last Friday after Trump claimed FBI agents were “authorized to shoot me” and were “locked & loaded ready to take me out & put my family in danger.”

The former president was responding to the revelation that the FBI was permitted to use “deadly force” in the 2022 raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, though the bureau insists it was following “standard protocol.”

Prosecutors said Trump’s statements “falsely” suggested law enforcement agents “were complicit in a plot to assassinate” the former president and exposed “agents, some of whom will be witnesses at trial, to the risk of threats, violence, and harassment.”

Smith’s team asked the court to restrain Trump from making public declarations that pose a serious “danger” to agents participating in the case. In a footnote, prosecutors also noted Trump’s lawyers object to the motion as they “do not believe that there is any imminent danger.”

Trump is contending with a gag order in a separate New York hush-money case. He was fined thousands of dollars last month after being found to be in violation of that order. A judge also implemented a gag order in Smith’s 2020 election interference case against the former president.

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Steven Cheung, Trump’s re-election campaign spokesman, reacted to Smith’s request for a gag order in the classified documents case by claiming that prosecutors were trying to meddle in the 2024 election.

“Hacks and Thugs are obsessed with trying to deprive President Trump and all American voters of their First Amendment rights,” Cheung said. “Repeated attempts to silence President Trump during the presidential campaign are blatant attempts to interfere in the election.”

Trump has maintained his innocence in all of the charges he faces, including in a separate 2020 election interference case in Georgia. Just one of the four cases — the criminal matter in Manhattan — has gone to trial so far.

Judge Cannon postponed the classified documents trial, which had been set for May 20, and has not selected a new date.

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