Jack Smith cites Trump's Mark Meadows comments in calling for gag order reinstatement

Fresh off a filing about former President Donald Trump's legal defense in the 2020 presidential election interference case, special counsel Jack Smith filed a response to the former president's demand that the gag order imposed by Judge Tanya Chutkan be stayed pending appeal.

"The defendant has moved to stay that Order pending appeal, insisting that he is entitled to target trial participants," wrote Smith's prosecutors. "But because he has failed to show either a substantial likelihood of success on the merits, or that the public interest weighs in favor of a stay, the defendant’s motion should be denied. Moreover, based on the defendant’s recent social media posts targeting a known witness in this case in an attempt to influence and intimidate him, the Court should lift the administrative stay and modify the defendant’s conditions of release to prevent such harmful and prejudicial conduct."

Among the examples of Trump's improper attacks on witnesses in the filing, was a post on his Truth Social account pressuring his former chief of staff Mark Meadows, saying he shouldn't talk even though he is being "hounded like a dog" by a "deranged prosecutor."

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"In the few days since the administrative stay has been in place, the defendant has returned to the very sort of targeting that the Order prohibits, including attempting to intimidate and influence foreseeable witnesses, and commenting on the substance of their testimony," said the filing. "For example, on October 24, 2023, the defendant took to social media to respond to a news report claiming that his former Chief of Staff, identified in the indictment, had testified in exchange for a grant of immunity."

All of this comes as the former president has found himself in trouble due to infringement of other gag orders.

For example, he was fined $10,000 this week during the civil fraud trial in New York after Judge Arthur Engoron determined he had violated the prohibition on attacking court staff, brushing aside Trump's claims that his disparaging remarks had actually been directed at his former attorney Michael Cohen.