FORT PIERCE, Fla. (AP) — The federal judge overseeing the case involving classified documents against Donald Trump will listen to arguments on Monday regarding potentially restricting the former president from making public statements that prosecutors believe could put the lives of FBI agents at risk.
Special counsel Jack Smith’s team argues that these restrictions are necessary due to Trump’s false claims that FBI agents conducting a search at his Mar-a-Lago estate in August 2022 were planning to harm him and his family. Trump’s legal team argues that any gag order would unfairly silence him during the heat of a presidential campaign where he is the expected Republican nominee.
It is uncertain when U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, appointed by Trump and under close scrutiny for her handling of the case, will make a decision. Prior to addressing the limited gag order requested by prosecutors, she is set to hear further arguments on Monday morning related to the Justice Department’s appointment and funding of Smith, who brought the charges.
These arguments are part of a three-day hearing that started on Friday to address numerous unresolved legal issues in a case that was supposed to go to trial last month but has been delayed and progressing slowly. The trial has been indefinitely postponed by Cannon, and it is unlikely to take place before the November presidential election.
Trump is facing multiple felony charges for illegally possessing top-secret documents at Mar-a-Lago and obstructing the FBI’s attempts to recover them. Despite the substantial evidence presented by prosecutors, many legal experts view this case as the most straightforward among the four cases against Trump, who has pleaded not guilty. However, Cannon has been slow to rule on various motions and has been open to considering defense requests that prosecutors deem baseless.
Smith’s team raised concerns last month after Trump asserted that the FBI was prepared to harm him during a court-approved search of Mar-a-Lago on August 8, 2022. Trump referenced standard FBI policy that prohibits the use of lethal force unless the officer conducting the search believes there is an imminent threat of death or serious injury to themselves or others.
In a fundraising email, Trump falsely claimed that the FBI was “ready to take me out & put my family in danger.”
Prosecutors argue that such statements pose a foreseeable risk to law enforcement, pointing to incidents like an attempted attack on an FBI office in Ohio three days after the Mar-a-Lago search and the recent arrest of a Trump supporter accused of threatening an FBI agent who investigated President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter.
In a court filing on Friday, prosecutors stated, “Using such knowingly false and incendiary language in the volatile environment that Trump has created poses an imminent threat to law enforcement that must be addressed before further violence occurs.”
Trump’s attorneys argue that there is no evidence that his comments directly endangered any FBI official involved in the Mar-a-Lago search.
“Fundamentally, the motion is based on the fact that President Trump criticized the Mar-a-Lago raid based on evidence from publicly filed motions in this case, as part of his constitutionally protected campaign speech, in a manner that someone in the government disagreed with and does not like,” they stated.
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