Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office is urging U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to reinstate the gag order she imposed against Donald Trump in the case charging him with attempting to subvert and overturn the 2020 election. Prosecutors allege Trump is engaging in attempts to “influence and intimidate” witnesses, including his former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
“The defendant has returned to the very sort of targeting that the Order prohibits, including attempting to intimidate and influence foreseeable witnesses, and commenting on the substance of their testimony,” senior assistant special counsels Molly Gaston and Thomas Windom wrote in their request, Politico reports. “The 32-page filing on Wednesday night is a remarkable portrayal of a former president as an active danger who must be restricted by a court to not only protect the integrity of the upcoming trial but also the physical safety of government witnesses.”
Judge Chutkan had temporarily paused the gag order after Trump appealed it.
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Prosecutors also “cited Trump’s recent comments on Mark Meadows, his (double) breach of a New York court’s gag order, his attack on the special counsel and [an] Australian businessman who may be a witness against him in FL,” Politico’s Kyle Cheney added on social media.
Cheney also notes that Trump’s attack on Mark Meadows, via a Truth Social post Tuesday night, “really was Exhibit A in special counsel’s call to reinstate the gag order.”
Trump’s Truth Social post reads:
“I don’t think Mark Meadows would lie about the Rigged and Stollen [sic] 2020 Presidential Election merely for getting IMMUNITY against Prosecution (PERSECUTION!) by Deranged Prosecutor, Jack Smith. BUT, when you really think about it, after being hounded like a dog for three years, told you’ll be going to jail for the rest of your life, your money and your family will be forever gone, and we’re not at all interested in exposing those that did the RIGGING — If you say BAD THINGS about that terrible ‘MONSTER,’ DONALD J. TRUMP, we won’t put you in prison, you can keep your family and your wealth, and, perhaps, if you can make up some really horrible ‘STUFF’ a out [sic] him, we may very well erect a statue of you in the middle of our decaying and now very violent Capital, Washington, D.C. Some people would make that deal, but they are weaklings and cowards, and so bad for the future our Failing Nation. I don’t think that Mark Meadows is one of them, but who really knows? MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”
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