Asking the judge to reactivate a gag order she previously issued in the federal criminal case accusing former President Donald Trump of attempted election interference, Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team argues in new filings in federal court that Trump knows the connection between rhetoric of his and real-world threats.
The nature of that connection, as understood here, leaves Trump enough space to argue there’s distance between himself and any ensuing violence. But the connection and what spurs it seems clear. There’s no question, for instance, about why those people descended on the Capitol in early 2021 and violently sought to stop the basic transfer of presidential power. Contrary to far-right conspiracy theories, it wasn’t Antifa or a foreign terror organization!
“The defendant knows the effect of his targeting and seeks to use it to his strategic advantage while simultaneously disclaiming any responsibility for the very acts he causes,” prosecutors said, as highlighted by journalist Kyle Cheney. “And while the precise timing and manner of the resulting harassment, intimidation, or violence is, by the defendant’s own design, inherently “speculative” (ECF No. 103 at 62), what matters for present purposes is that everyone—the defendant, his “over 100 million followers” (ECF No. 110 at 4), and the people targeted—knows of the dynamic.”
The judge, Tanya Chutkan, specifically imposed an administrative stay of — meaning temporary halt to — the gag order as Trump seeks a more extensive stay in tandem with appeals he’s making. Prosecutors want the limited stay lifted and oppose Trump’s request for a longer halt to the gag order’s enforcement.
Prosecutors in the new filing pointed to recent examples of Trump’s arguably concerning rhetoric like commentary on social media and in person about Mark Meadows in the context of federal investigations. Meadows, a former chief of staff in the Trump White House, reportedly testified in return for a limited application of immunity. And on Truth Social, which is Trump’s knock-off social media site, he said that those who would take a deal that would involve them ostensibly making up claims about the former president’s actions and developments close to him were “weaklings and cowards.” What a different response from Trump compared to the excuses he’s given for the 2021 Capitol attack itself! Read the full filing here.
