Prosecutor seeks gag order on Donald Trump after menacing statements

A Washington federal court was told the former US president’s attacks risk undermining his upcoming trial for election subversion.

The court filing citied Donald Trump’s menacing ‘repeated and relentless’ social media posts, and his attacks on potential witnesses against him, including former vice president Mike Pence. Picture: AFP

Special Counsel Jack Smith has asked a judge to place a gag order on former US president Donald Trump, saying his inflammatory rhetoric threatens to undermine his coming trial for election subversion.

Smith told the Washington federal court that Trump’s repeated attacks on Justice Department officials, the Washington public, and the judge in the case herself, Tanya Chutkan, could prejudice the jury pool, which is drawn from the local population.

He also said the attacks had resulted in real threats from Trump supporters against prosecutors, the court, and potential jurors.

Trump’s statements “could have a material impact on the impartiality of the jury pool while simultaneously influencing witness testimony,” the filing said.

Anyone reading or hearing Trump’s comments “may reasonably fear that they could be the next targets of the defendant’s attacks,” it said.

Smith asked the judge to forbid Trump from making disparaging, inflammatory or intimidating statements about anyone involved with or potentially involved with the case, and any statements at all on prospective witnesses.

The request cited a number of Trump’s comments after the August 1 indictment, including a menacing social media post that read: “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!” Trump labelled Chutkan a “fraud” and “Trump-hating”, Smith’s office a “team of thugs”, and Washington “filthy and crime-ridden” with a population “over 95% anti-Trump.” The filing also cited his attacks on potential witnesses against him, including former vice president Mike Pence.

It said Trump’s language has resulted in real threats made against the court and the prosecutors.

“It is clear that the threats are prompted by the defendant’s repeated and relentless posts,” it said.

Trump was indicted over his efforts to up-end the results of the 2020 US election in a concerted effort that led to the violent January 6, 2021 attack by his supporters on the Capitol.

He is also accused of seeking to disenfranchise American voters with his false claims that he won the November 2020 presidential election.

Trump has pleaded not guilty, and has formally asked Chutkan to recuse herself from the case, accusing her of bias against him.

Chutkan set March 4, 2024 for the start of the trial, which could interfere with Trump’s campaign to win the Republican nomination in next year’s presidential election.