Attorneys for Donald Trump on Friday responded to a filing from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office that provided a federal appeals court with more information to support their request for the gag order placed on the ex-president to be reinstated.
On Wednesday, in a separate case, New York Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron released 275-pages of transcripts from threats he and his court staff have received, in an effort to support his request for the narrow gag orders he imposed on Trump and his attorneys to be reinstated. Courthouse News Service described the threats as “vulgar, threatening and antisemitic,” “profanity-laden,” and reported they “ranged from crude and bigoted to downright chilling.”
“In the affidavit attached to Engoron’s filing,” CNS reported, court officer Captain Charles Hollon “outlined the safety concerns Engoron and his staff face due to Trump’s unwavering and derogatory social media posts. The threats are serious, he claims ‘not hypothetical or speculative.’ ”
READ MORE: ‘Monster’ Ted Cruz Blasted Over False Terror Attack Claim: ‘Truth Means Nothing to MAGA’
“The affidavit claims that his law clerk now experiences ‘daily doxing’ after Trump attacked her on social media back in October,” CNS adds.
Judge Engoron’s chief law clerk Allison Greenfield’s “personal cell phone number and personal email addresses … have been compromised,” Hollon wrote, noting: “She has been subjected to, on a daily basis, harassing, disparaging comments and antisemitic tropes. I have been informed by Ms. Greenfield that she has been receiving approximately 20-30 calls per day to her personal cell phone and approximately 30-50 messages per day.”
On Thanksgiving Day, the Special Counsel’s office (which also worked on Thanksgiving last year,) submitted a 26-page letter to the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., directing the court’s attention to Judge Engoron’s filing, including the affidavit and 275-pages of transcripts.
“Because the parties referenced this matter in their briefs, and the Court inquired at oral argument about evidence of ongoing threats and harassment, the Government respectfully submits Exhibit E (and the related documents, for completeness) as supplemental authority,” the Special Counsel’s office wrote.
“While Americans gave thanks,” MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin reports, “the Special Counsel’s office put their stuffing to the side & sent the DC Circuit the filing detailing the copious, vile threats against the judge overseeing the NY civil fraud trial and his law clerk.”
“And today,” Rubin adds, “Team Trump responded, insisting the information is irrelevant, could have been brought to the court’s attention earlier, and in any event, isn’t Trump’s problem because he never *directly* threatened the law clerk.”
READ MORE: ‘Denying Career Advancement to White Straight Men’: Stephen Miller’s Law Group Targets Macy’s
Trump’s attorneys called the affidavit and 275 pages of transcripts “irrelevant” to their federal case.
“To date,” they added, “the prosecution has never submitted any evidence of alleged ‘threats’ or ‘harassment’ to any prosecutor, court staffer, or potential witness in this case. This falls short of the ‘solidity of evidence’ required to justify a prior restraint.”
Former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance, the popular MSNBC legal analyst, podcaster, and professor of law, sums up Trump’s attorneys’ response to the Special Counsel’s filing.
“Trump’s lawyers have responded to a 28(j) supplemental authority letter the special counsel sent to the court of appeals on Thanksgiving day,” she writes. “In short, Trump says his threats aren’t threats & if they are, he’s justified in making them.”
Image via Shutterstock