Special Counsel Jack Smith made an unprecedented move on Friday by requesting a federal judge to issue an order that would prevent former President Donald Trump from making any statements that could potentially endanger law enforcement.
The request comes after Trump’s attempts to capitalize on a recently uncovered piece of evidence in the case. He falsely asserts that it proves President Biden had planned to assassinate him during the search of his Mar-a-Lago club in August 2022.
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The Government is seeking to modify the conditions of release for defendant Donald J. Trump. The aim is to clearly state that he is prohibited from making statements that could pose a substantial and foreseeable threat to law enforcement agents involved in the investigation and prosecution of this case, as stated in the filings from Smith.
The government is requesting this action due to a series of deliberate and provocative statements made by Trump. These statements have distorted the truth about the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s handling of the search warrant at Mar-a-Lago. They have created a highly misleading perception of the intentions and actions of federal law enforcement agents, falsely implying their involvement in a plot to harm Trump. This puts the agents, who will be witnesses at the trial, at risk of receiving threats, violence, and harassment.
In a recent fundraising email, Trump responded to right-wing media reports that misrepresented a newly unsealed court filing in his classified documents case. In the email, Trump falsely accused Biden of being “locked & loaded ready to take me out.”
In a recent post on his Truth Social platform, Donald Trump claimed that he has been shown reports indicating that the Department of Justice under President Biden authorized the FBI to use deadly force during their search of a property for classified documents.
According to the filing, Trump has greatly distorted standard practices by falsely presenting them as a plot to harm him, his family, and U.S. Secret Service agents. The filing further asserts that these misleading and incendiary claims irresponsibly place FBI agents involved in the case at risk, a fact that Trump is well aware of.
The special counsel provides a thorough account of the measures taken to minimize the potential for escalation during the search of Mar-a-Lago in August 2022. They ensured that both the president and his family were out of state, and even consulted his lawyer before commencing the search of the property.
The filing highlights that the FBI took great care to execute the search warrant at Mar-a-Lago discreetly and without unnecessary confrontation. They deliberately scheduled the search when Trump and his family were away, and they intended to coordinate with Trump’s attorney, Secret Service agents, and Mar-a-Lago staff throughout the process. Additionally, the FBI had plans in place for various contingencies, although they ultimately did not need to be implemented, including communication protocols if Trump were to arrive at the scene.
The filing emphasizes the request by referring to the attack on an FBI field office in Cincinnati, Ohio. They claim that this attack was a direct result of inflammatory statements made by Trump that incited his supporters, following the search in August.
Trump’s lawyers have been accused of misleadingly characterizing the FBI’s “Use of Deadly Force” policy in their recent motion, which has sparked controversy. It has been pointed out that the attorneys conveniently omitted the word “only” before the phrase “when necessary” without any indication of the omission.
In their filing, Trump’s attorneys described the policy as follows: “Law enforcement officers of the Department of Justice may use deadly force when necessary.” However, the actual wording on the policy statement is: “Law enforcement officers of the Department of Justice may use deadly force only when necessary.”
Trump entered a plea of not guilty in June of last year to 37 criminal charges connected to his handling of classified materials after his presidency. Prosecutors alleged that he consistently refused to return hundreds of documents containing classified information, including sensitive data on U.S. nuclear secrets and national defense capabilities. Additionally, they claimed that he actively obstructed the government’s attempts to retrieve these documents.
The response to the request made by Trump and his co-defendants in the case is uncertain at this time. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon has scheduled a series of hearings at the end of June to consider their efforts to dismiss the case.
