Jack Smith Seeks Order Barring Trump From Criticizing Law Enforcement Over Deadly Force Authorization for Mar-a-Lago Raid
Special Counsel Jack Smith filed a motion Friday night demanding President Trump’s condition of release in the classified documents case be modified to include barring him from criticizing law enforcement for authorizing deadly force in the August 8, 2022 raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida in a search for disputed alleged classified documents from Trump’s presidency. Trump reacted to the news of the deadly force authorization on Tuesday by saying the government had plans to kill him.
Introduction to Smith’s motion:
The Government moves to modify defendant Donald J. Trump’s conditions of release, to
make clear that he may not make statements that pose a significant, imminent, and foreseeable
danger to law enforcement agents participating in the investigation and prosecution of this case.1The Government’s request is necessary because of several intentionally false and inflammatory
statements recently made by Trump that distort the circumstances under which the Federal Bureau
of Investigation planned and executed the search warrant at Mar-a-Lago.
Smith complained in a footnote that Trump had reposted a meme on Truth Social Friday:
The Government has contacted counsel for defendant Trump, who stated that they object to the Motion and the timing of the conferral on a holiday weekend; it is their position that the Government has not provided an opportunity for meaningful conferral. They do not believe that there is any imminent danger, and asked to meet and confer next Monday. However, within just the last few hours, Trump has continued to issue false statements smearing and endangering the agents who executed the search. See https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump (“reTruthing” statement claiming that the FBI was authorized to use “‘Lethal Force’ on Trump or anyone at MAL– WHILE the FBI/DOJ plants evidence to frame Trump!!!”).
The authorization of deadly force, along with contingency plans for a shootout at Mar-a-Lago that included having a medical team on scene and a nearby shock trauma hospital on standby, was unsealed Tuesday by the Judge Aileen Cannon and first reported by Julie Kelly.
The FBI and Attorney General Merrick Garland have claimed this was standard procedure for a search warrant but have yet to explain why the government was prepared for a bloodbath at Trump’s home over a document dispute.
TGP reported Trump posted on Truth Social and sent out a campaign email Tuesday night.
“BIDEN’S DOJ WAS AUTHORIZED TO SHOOT ME! It’s just been revealed that Biden’s DOJ was authorized to use DEADLY FORCE for their DESPICABLE raid in Mar-a-Lago. You know they’re just itching to do the unthinkable… Democrats think they can frighten me, intimidate me, and KNOCK ME DOWN! But here’s the one thing they don’t know: WE WILL NEVER SURRENDER! Biden’s corrupt regime needs to get the message – right here, right now – that our patriotic movement CANNOT BE STOPPED! Before the day is over, I’m calling on ONE MILLION Pro-Trump Patriots to chip in and say: STOP THE WITCH HUNT!”
Trump’s reaction on Truth Social Tuesday night:
“WOW! I just came out of the Biden Witch Hunt Trial in Manhattan, the “Icebox,” and was shown Reports that Crooked Joe Biden’s DOJ, in their Illegal and UnConstitutional Raid of Mar-a-Lago, AUTHORIZED THE FBI TO USE DEADLY (LETHAL) FORCE. NOW WE KNOW, FOR SURE, THAT JOE BIDEN IS A SERIOUS THREAT TO DEMOCRACY. HE IS MENTALLY UNFIT TO HOLD OFFICE — 25TH AMENDMENT!”
An ABC News report quoted from Smith’s filing in before Judge Cannon (excerpt):
“The Government moves to modify defendant Donald J. Trump’s conditions of release, to make clear that he may not make statements that pose a significant, imminent, and foreseeable danger to law enforcement agents participating in the investigation and prosecution of this case,” the filings from Smith said.
“The government’s request is necessary because of several intentionally false and inflammatory statements recently made by Trump that distort the circumstances under which the Federal Bureau of Investigation planned and executed the search warrant at Mar-a-Lago. Those statements create a grossly misleading impression about the intentions and conduct of federal law enforcement agents—falsely suggesting that they were complicit in a plot to assassinate him—and expose those agents, some of whom will be witnesses at trial, to the risk of threats, violence, and harassment.”
…”Trump… has grossly distorted… standard practices by mischaracterizing them as a plan to kill him, his family, and U.S. Secret Service agents,” the filing says. “Those deceptive and inflammatory assertions irresponsibly put a target on the backs of the FBI agents involved in this case, as Trump well knows.”
…The filing says, “As Trump is well aware, the FBI took extraordinary care to execute the search warrant unobtrusively and without needless confrontation: they scheduled the search of Mar-a-Lago for a time when he and his family would be away; they planned to coordinate with Trump’s attorney, Secret Service agents, and Mar-a-Lago staff before and during the execution of the warrant; and they planned for contingencies—which, in fact, never came to pass—about with whom to communicate if Trump were to arrive on the scene.”
The AP reported Smith claimed the proposed gag order would not restrict “legitimate speech” (excerpt):
Prosecutors on special counsel Jack Smith’s team said in court papers late Friday that Trump’s statements falsely suggesting that federal agents “were complicit in a plot to assassinate him” expose law enforcement — some of whom prosecutors noted will be called as witnesses at his trial — “to the risk of threats, violence, and harassment.”
“Trump’s repeated mischaracterization of these facts in widely distributed messages as an attempt to kill him, his family, and Secret Service agents has endangered law enforcement officers involved in the investigation and prosecution of this case and threatened the integrity of these proceedings,” prosecutors told Cannon, who was nominated to the bench by Trump.
“A restriction prohibiting future similar statements does not restrict legitimate speech,” they said.
CNN reported Trump’s lawyers are objecting to the motion and are seeking a meeting in the matter next Monday (excerpt):
Prosecutors say Trump’s lawyers told them they are against a restriction on his ability to comment about law enforcement who worked on the investigation, and they opposed the special counsel’s office responding to Trump’s recent remarks to the court late Friday of Memorial Day weekend.
“They do not believe that there is any imminent danger, and asked to meet and confer next Monday,” prosecutors added in the filing.
Prosecutors noted that Trump has been amplifying accusations about the FBI in the search on his Truth Social account Friday.
Video of Garland’s remarks Thursday claiming the same deadly force form was used in the consensual search of Joe Biden’s home for classified documents:
MSNBC analyst Lisa Rubin observed that the motion to modify Trump’s conditions of release could set the stage for putting Trump in jail:
But in asking to modify Trump’s conditions of release to prohibit his making statements that pose a “significant, imminent, and foreseeable danger” to law enforcement involved in the investigation and prosecution of the MAL case, the Special Counsel is upping the ante. 4/…Why? Because where a defendant violates a condition of his release, the consequences can include “the immediate issuance of a warrant for the defendant’s arrest, a revocation of release, and order of detention,” as well as a prosecution for contempt. 5/”
Why? Because where a defendant violates a condition of his release, the consequences can include “the immediate issuance of a warrant for the defendant’s arrest, a revocation of release, and order of detention,” as well as a prosecution for contempt. 5/ pic.twitter.com/anJ5taGPD6
— Lisa Rubin (@lawofruby) May 25, 2024
Rubin added if Cannon denies the motion that Smith can file an immediate appeal with the 11th Circuit.
Article III Project founder Mike Davis posted he is mentioned in the filing along with Steve Bannon:
Jack Smith and Jay Bratt included a picture of me in Exhibit 4 of their filing tonight to illegally gag President Trump.
1. Glad I’m in their heads.
2. There’s no chance in hell they will silence us at the @Article3Project. pic.twitter.com/mQq1JFZDlK
— Mike Davis (@mrddmia) May 25, 2024
Julie Kelly posted screen images from the filing:
Special Counsel Jack Smith just opened another can of worms seeking to stop Trump from discussing FBI authorization to use lethal force. pic.twitter.com/17jlgdvM1d
— Julie Kelly (@julie_kelly2) May 25, 2024
One thing notable in Jack Smith filing tonight. He never claimed that DOJ sought similar use of force guidance in Biden search—as Merrick Garland stated. Seems an odd oversight… pic.twitter.com/6GkrUevb9o
— Julie Kelly (@julie_kelly2) May 25, 2024
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