Former President Donald Trump’s lawyers hit back in response to special counsel Jack Smith’s request for a gag order on Trump to stop him from talking about the January 6th-related case against him, calling on the court to “reject this transparent gamesmanship.”
They wrote in a filing released Monday:
At bottom, the Proposed Gag Order is nothing more than an obvious attempt by the Biden Administration to unlawfully silence its most prominent political opponent, who has now taken a commanding lead in the polls. Indeed, this very Motion came on the heels of adverse polling for President Biden. His administration’s plan is quite simple: unleash a 45-page speaking indictment, discuss and leak its talking points in the press, and then cynically attempt to invoke the Court’s authority to prevent President Trump and those acting on his behalf from presenting his side of the story to the American people during a political campaign. This desperate effort at censorship is unconstitutional on its face.
Smith filed the gag order request last week, arguing that Trump, through social media and other means, was trying to taint the jury pool in Washington, DC, where the case related to Trump’s role in the January 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol will be decided.
To make his case, Smith noted one of Trump’s posts on Truth Social where he posted a quote and video of Fox News show host Jesse Watters saying, “Joe Biden directed his Attorney General to prosecute his rival.”
Critics of Smith’s request — including a Washington Post columnist — slammed the request as overly broad and intended to silence Trump, a presidential candidate, during a presidential campaign.
Mike Davis, founder and president of Article III Project, posted Monday after Trump’s lawyers’ filing:
Criminal defendants, not the government prosecuting them, have 6th Amendment rights to a fair, public, and speedy trial.
American citizens, not the government, have 1st Amendment rights to speak out against the government.
The possible gag order against President Trump is unconstitutional and another attempt to take him out by the corrupt radical left.
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