Special counsel requests judge’s gag-order to keep documents secret in Trump confidential documents matter

The prosecutors of the Special Counsel’s Office have asked a federal court in Florida to issue an order of silence for Donald Trump that would limit his ability to speak about the police who swarmed the area of his Mar-a-Lago resort.

By Katelyn Polantz

May 25, 2024 03:32 AM

The Special Counsel’s Office prosecutor’s office has asked an Federal court in Florida to issue gag orders for Donald Trump that will limit his ability to speak out about the law enforcement officers who searched at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

The request – the initial within the classified documents mishandling matter it comes after the former president repeatedly and in error criticized the FBI for a policy in place for the use of force in the search and seizure of records from the government at his hotel on August 20, 2022.

Although Trump has warned his supporters that he may be in danger as a result this policy it is the standard procedure for FBI searches and regulates the way agents are allowed to use force in the course of their search. The same FBI policy was applied to the search of the homes of former President Joe Biden and offices as part of another investigation of classified documents.

Special counsel’s prosecutor Jack Smith wrote to Judge Aileen Cannon in a letter Friday night, stating that the terms that permit Trump not to remain in jail in the midst of trial must be amended.

The request is likely to force Cannon to be at the forefront of a highly politically charged and polarized battle, battling Trump’s ongoing campaign for president and his alleged violation of the First Amendment at the same as prosecutors escalate their concerns to her regarding the proceedings she supervises. The judge has been slow to resolve the disputes concerning Trump’s alleged criminal mishandling and obstruction of justice cases in front of her. Currently, there is no trial date has been scheduled.

The prosecutors claim that they believe the gag orders are necessary to safeguard their integrity in the investigation as well as law enforcement officials who are involved. They claimed that the former president’s provocative statements could prompt the supporters of his to react at federal officials and some of them could become witnesses of the investigation.

“Trump’s repeated mischaracterization as an attempt to kill him, his family, and Secret Service agents has endangered law enforcement officers involved in the investigation and prosecution of this case and threatened the integrity of these proceedings,” the prosecutors said in their report.

The recent remarks were, as they said, “invite the sort of threats and harassment that have occurred when other participants in legal proceedings against Trump have been targeted by his invective.”

The the policy of deadly force is listed in the various pages of documents which governs FBI procedures and search protocols for when they go to Mar-a-Lago that was released in Trump’s lawsuit before the Federal Court this week. The documents also stipulates the requirement that agents wear business casual, unmarked clothing, and stipulates that in the event that Trump was to be at Mar-a-Lago in the course of the hunt, leaders in the area would talk to Trump as well as the Secret Service detail.

Reactions from Trump’s team

Prosecutors allege that Trump’s lawyers have told them they were against the restriction of his right to speak out about law enforcement personnel who participated in the probe, and they were against the office of the special counsel in its response to Trump’s remarks to the court on Friday night on Memorial Day weekend.

“They do not believe that there is any imminent danger, and asked to meet and confer next Monday,” prosecutors wrote in the document.

Donald Trump’s lawyers are working for a court appearance this weekend an individual who is who knows Trump’s strategy said to CNN.

Prosecutors have noted that Trump has stepped up his accusations against the FBI in the investigation of the Truth Social account Friday.

Trump’s campaign issued an email to raise money on Tuesday, which said FBI agents had been “locked and loaded” and that Trump “nearly escaped death” at Mar-a-Lago.

Steven Cheung, Trump’s campaign spokesperson, in response to the request of prosecutors on Friday night, said that the Biden Administration “Hacks as well as Thugs are determined to strip the president Trump and the majority of American citizens from their First Amendment rights. Every attempt to disarm the president Trump in the course of his presidential campaign are flagrant attempts to interfere with the process of election.”

Intense responses to Trump’s attack

This Justice Department request to the court on Friday specifically requests Cannon to limit Trump’s right to speak out about police work by changing his pre-trial release conditions. from the jail.

This is a distinct approach than the one that the special counsel’s office did when it was seeking limits on what Trump could have to say about his 2020 election campaign at Washington, DC’s federal court.

The case could have a greater consequences and be watched by the court’s probation officers as well as officials from Justice Department, according to sources who are familiar with the situation.

In a strikingly direct rebuke against Trump and his administration, attorney general Merrick Garland has addressed on Thursday the allegations Trump has made regarding the FBI investigation at Mar-a-Lago. “That assertion is false and extremely risky. The document mentioned in the allegations is the standard policy of the Justice Department restricting to the force used” Garland said.

“As the FBI advises, it is part of the standard operations plan for searches,” Garland explained. “And in fact, it was even used in the consensual search of President Biden’s home.”

The FBI repeated the same statement in a press release of its self this week. which is an indication of the resentment Trump’s comments caused within Federal law enforcement authorities.

The prosecutors of the case of classified documents against Trump successfully argued for a judge to keep the names of FBI agents who were involved in the Mar-a-Lago search out of the court filings of recent, due to fears of harassment and threats.

The FBI and Justice Department have faced a amount of threats since the investigation of Mar-a-Lago almost two years ago. They have also faced numerous threats in the wake of times when Trump promoted false information regarding police officers from the Federal government’s strategy. One example is a man who was a frequent user of Trump’s social media platform attempted to take on an FBI’s Cincinnati field office in the aftermath of the Mar-a-Lago search.

A number of courts in the state outside Florida have confirmed gag orders which prohibit Trump from discussing jurors, witnesses as well as his staff members who are working on his cases due to threats and intimidation his remarks caused in addition to other reasons.

Trump’s freedom to speak publicly is limited in his current New York trial, where Trump has been found as contemptuous and fined ten times for ignoring the gag order. He also faces a gag order in his Washington DC-based election interference trial, where the case is at federal courts.

The story was updated and includes more information.