Jack Smith urges reinstatement of Trump gag order in 2020 election case
Special Prosecutor Jack Smith addresses reporters on Aug. 1 in Washington, D.C. Photo: Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Federal prosecutors argued in a Tuesday filing that former President Trump's "long history" of inflammatory speech justifies the restoration of a narrow gag order in the federal 2020 election interference case.
Driving the news: Special counsel Jack Smith's team wrote that Trump "has persistently used social media to make prejudicial comments about the case and its participants."
- They argue that there has been a "pattern, stretching back years, in which people publicly targeted by the defendant are, as a result of the targeting, subject to harassment, threats, and intimidation."
- The court filing references a number of Trump's posts on social media that prosecutors argue reinforce the need for the gag order.
Zoom in: Smith's office also said that Trump "has taken advantage of administrative stays to engage in targeting of witnesses, as well as prosecutors and their families."
State of play: The partial gag order is temporarily on hold, after Trump's lawyers had asked the court to lift it, arguing that it had "muzzl[ed] President Trump's core political speech."
- U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan issued the narrow gag order in October, writing that the former president's statements "pose sufficiently grave threats" to the "integrity" of the court proceedings.
- Trump's team and prosecutors have repeatedly clashed over the order.
Zoom out: Trump's fiery rhetoric has also become the subject of dispute in other of his legal cases.
- The judge overseeing Trump's New York civil fraud trial also issued a gag order and has fined Trump twice for violating it.
What to watch: Chutkan has set oral arguments over the gag order in the 2020 election case for Nov. 20.
Go deeper: Trump's words turn violent as pressure on him builds