Special Counsel Jack Smith in a Friday Filing appealed to the judge overseeing former President Trump’s confidential documents case to stop Trump from talking about the case in a way that could endanger authorities.
In his request, Smith asked the court to impose a condition that would prevent Trump from making public statements that could “pose a significant, imminent and foreseeable danger to law enforcement officials participating in the investigation and prosecution of this case.”
“Whether a particular statement meets this test “shall be determined by reference to the full context of the statement,” the document says. “But this condition would clearly prohibit further statements falsely claiming that the agents involved in executing the search warrant were involved in an effort to kill him, his family or Secret Service agents.”
The move comes after the former president falsely claimed in an email on Wednesday that President Biden was “locked, loaded and ready to get me out” — distorting the language of the terms approved for law enforcement as they prepared to search his Mar-a-Lago residence for classified records in 2022.
In reality, the language only permits deadly force “when necessary,” such as when someone “poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical harm to the officer or another person.”
Prosecutors noted in the filing that the FBI search of the Palm Beach resort was done intentionally when Trump and his family were away. And, they added, it was coordinated with the Secret Service, without force.
In their argument, prosecutors said Trump’s false claims could expose law enforcement officials — some of whom they said would be witnesses at his trial — to threats of violence or harassment.
“The government’s request is necessary due to 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 Mar-a-Lago search warrant,” the documents say. court.
“These statements create a grossly misleading impression about the intentions and conduct of federal law enforcement agents – falsely suggesting that they were complicit in a conspiracy to murder him – and expose these agents, some of whom will be witnesses at the trial , at risk of threats, violence and harassment”, prosecutors added.
Attorney General Merrick Garland also rejected Trump’s accusations on Thursday, calling them “extremely dangerous.”
“This allegation is false and extremely dangerous,” Garland said. “The document referenced in the complaint is the Department of Justice’s standard policy limiting the use of force.”
“As the FBI reports, it is part of the standard operations plan for searches and, in fact, was even used in the consensual search of President Biden’s home,” he added.
The former president faces 40 counts of mishandling classified documents and obstructing the government’s recovery of records after leaving the White House. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Although the case was scheduled to begin on May 20, Judge Aileen Cannon adjourned the case indefinitely, pushing back some trial dates to late July while refusing to set a trial date. Cannon, a Trump-appointed judge, attributed the delay to the need to resolve questions about how confidential documents would be handled at trial.
Cannon’s decision is in line with one of the Trump legal team’s first requests: not to set a trial date.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
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