Jack Smith Moves to Thwart Donald Trump
Donald Trump participates in the CNN Presidential Debate at the CNN Studios on June 27, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. Prosecutors are seeking to place Trump under a gag order in his classified documents case in Florida. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Donald Trump is seeking to delay a prosecution gag-order request, special counsel Jack Smith has said, expressing his frustration with the former president's attempts to add more filings in the classified documents case.
"The Court's order issued after the hearing is clear and unambiguous – no additional briefings," Smith, who was appointed to oversee all Trump's federal cases, wrote in a filing on Thursday.
Trump is facing 40 federal charges over his handling of sensitive materials retrieved from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, after leaving the White House in January 2021. He is accused of obstructing efforts by federal authorities to return them. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges. Newsweek has contacted Trump's attorney and Jack Smith's office via email for comment on Friday.
Smith is seeking a gag order added to Trump's bail conditions so that the Republican cannot criticize witnesses in his classified-documents case.
Trump said that FBI agents were instructed to use lethal force against him when the agency raided his Mar-a-Lago estate in August 2022. That was based on an erroneous interpretation of a standard FBI search order request, which states that agents are trained to use lethal force. It is a printed formula that is standard for FBI search warrant requests.
Smith has said in court filings that Trump's statements are putting the lives of FBI agents at risk.
In his filing on Thursday, the special counsel wrote that Trump is trying to get around Judge Aileen Cannon's instruction that no more briefings are to be filed on the gag-order issue.
"Despite the plain and unambiguous text of the Court's order... Trump requests leave to file a response to the Government's Notice. The Government understands that the Court meant what it said in its June 24, 2024 minute order: 'No additional briefing will be permitted.' Trump's request should be denied," Smith wrote.
In May, the search warrant used in the 2022 raid on Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence was unsealed in the classified documents criminal case. The raid led to the seizure of hundreds of such documents, which resulted in dozens of felony counts against the former president.
Trump posted misleading claims about the warrant's wording on his Truth Social account, alleging that the Department of Justice "AUTHORIZED THE FBI TO USE DEADLY (LETHAL) FORCE." In addition, a Trump campaign email that was recently sent to supporters said that FBI agents were "authorized to shoot" the former White House leader, saying President Joe Biden was "locked & loaded and ready to take me [Trump] out."
However, the FBI said in a statement that the wording of the warrant was standard and the phrase "deadly force" was also included when agents searched Biden's Delaware home for classified materials.
"The FBI followed standard protocol in this search as we do for all search warrants, which includes a standard policy statement limiting the use of deadly force. No one ordered additional steps to be taken and there was no departure from the norm in this matter," the agency's statement said.
Discussing Trump's claim about the search warrant, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said at a news conference in late May that the "allegation is false and it is extremely dangerous," reiterating that the document in question is standard policy.
Related Articles
Start your unlimited Newsweek trial