Special Counsel Smith to Trump: Shut your Big Mac hole

Friends, there is rejoicing in the land tonight:  Special Counsel Jack Smith has filed a motion asking Judge Tanya S. Chutkan to issue a gag order on Defendant Trump and his lawyers.  Prosecutors for the office of the Special Counsel are seeking a “narrowly tailored order pursuant to Local Criminal Rule 57.7(c) that restricts certain prejudicial extrajudicial statements,” and “an order through which the Court can ensure that if either party conducts a jury study involving contact with the citizens of this District, the jury study is conducted in a way that will not prejudice the venire,” as well as “a supplemental order that extends some of the prohibitions that apply to defense counsel to the defendant himself.”

“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,” prosecutors wrote in their 19-page motion. “Like his previous public disinformation campaign regarding the 2020 presidential election, the defendant’s recent extrajudicial statements are intended to undermine public confidence in an institution — the judicial system — and to undermine confidence in and intimidate individuals — the court, the jury pool, witnesses and prosecutors.”

“The defendant knows that when he publicly attacks individuals and institutions, he inspires others to perpetrate threats and harassment against his targets,” prosecutors asserted. “The defendant continues these attacks on individuals precisely because he knows that in doing so, he is able to roil the public and marshal and prompt his supporters.”

Prosecutors were careful to exclude from the requested gag order any statements by Trump professing his innocence or his quoting or referring to public court records.  Prosecutors acknowledged that they had “obtained the defendant's position from counsel for the defendant, and he opposes this motion.” 

The Special Counsel motion is packed with examples of Trump’s firehose of Truth Social posts criticizing the prosecution, the judge, the judicial system, and the citizens of the District of Columbia, beginning with his post threatening, “If you go after me, I’m coming after you.”  Prosecutors made sure to quote statements that Trump has made about Judge Chutkan herself, calling her “a radical Obama hack” and “a fraud dressed up as a judge.”

They made a special effort to spell out the threats to and lies about Ruby Freeman and Wandrea ArShaye “Shaye” Moss, the mother and daughter Georgia election workers whose lives were ruined by Trump’s lies that they had stuffed ballot boxes on election night, 2020.

Threats to Judge Chutkan and prosecutors in the office of the Special Counsel and in the Department of Justice were also cited in the motion.  A woman in Texas was arrested for making racist death threats against Judge Chutkan in calls to her chambers, and the DOJ has had to set up a whole new FBI team to deal with threats against Smith’s office and prosecutors working for the DOJ.

“Given the defendant's history and the nature of the threats to the Court and to the Government, it is clear that the threats are prompted by the defendant's repeated and relentless posts,” the prosecutors’ motion states. “To the extent that the defendant's public posts reach the general public, they also reach the jury pool for this trial.”

Prosecutors spell out the reasons for their motion clearly: “The defendant's repeated, inflammatory public statements regarding the District of Columbia, the Court, prosecutors, and potential witnesses are substantially likely to materially prejudice the jury pool, create fear among potential jurors, and result in threats or harassment to individuals he singles out. Put simply, those involved in the criminal justice process who read and hear the defendant's disparaging and inflammatory messages (from court personnel, to prosecutors, to witnesses, to potential jurors) may reasonably fear that they could be the next targets of the defendant's attacks.” 

Citing statements by Trump’s lead counsel, John Lauro, the motion states:  “Shortly after the indictment in this case was unsealed, the defendant's lead counsel began a series of lengthy and detailed interviews in which he potentially tainted the jury pool by disseminating information and opinions about the case and a potential witness and described in detail legal defenses that he plans to mount, including defenses that may never be raised in court or that may be rejected by the Court before ever reaching the jury.” 

Prosecutors told the judge that although Lauro had yet to violate “Local Criminal Rule 57.7(b), which prohibits attorneys from releasing public extrajudicial statements regarding, among other things, ‘the identity, testimony, or credibility of prospective witnesses’ and ‘the merits of the case or the evidence in the case,’” Defendant Trump had done so repeatedly.  To prevent this from happening in the future, prosecutors asked the Judge to impose an order ensuring that “the defendant does not undermine the integrity of these proceedings by disseminating statements defense counsel cannot make.”

The motion by Special Counsel Smith is expected to initiate a firestorm of objections from Defendant Trump.  While it is unknown when Judge Chutkan will rule on the prosecution motion, the judge has set Sept. 25 as the date Trump’s lawyers must respond to the Special Counsel’s motion, and Sept. 30 as the date by which the Special Counsel must file their response.

I would quote that old rock and roll song celebrating “more fun in the summertime,” except we’re already two weeks into the fall.  But stay tuned:  there is much more to come on this front.