Global Courant
By Andrew Goudsward
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Donald Trump has pushed back on U.S. prosecutors’ requests to curtail some of his public statements about people involved in the federal lawsuit accusing him of trying to undermine the results of the 2020 presidential election.
The former US president’s lawyers are sharply opposing special counsel Jack Smith’s request for an injunction limiting Trump’s extrajudicial statements about potential witnesses in the case and disparaging or intimidating comments about the judge, prosecutors and potential jurors prohibits.
Trump’s defense team said in a court filing late Monday that such restrictions would violate his right to free speech as he runs for president as the clear frontrunner for the Republican nomination in 2024.
Trump had already publicly attacked Smith’s request, arguing it was an attempt to limit his criticism of President Joe Biden, his likely opponent in the 2024 election.
“In essence, the proposed silence order is nothing more than an obvious attempt by the Biden administration to unlawfully silence its most prominent political opponent,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in the filing.
Trump was charged in August with four felonies for allegedly trying to intervene in the vote counting and block the certification of the 2020 election, one of four criminal cases he faces. Trump has denied that he is guilty of all charges.
Smith’s office said in a court filing this month that Trump threatened to undermine public confidence in the case and influence potential jurors with “almost daily” social media attacks on prosecutors, U.S. Judge Tanya Chutkan, who handled the case chairs, and residents of Washington. , DC, who will serve as judges.
Prosecutors said Trump has a history of inspiring his supporters to harass and threaten people he singles out for public criticism.
Thousands of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, fighting with police and sending lawmakers fleeing for their lives in a failed attempt to overturn Trump’s election defeat. Trump continues to falsely claim that his loss was the result of fraud.
(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward; Editing by Scott Malone and Kim Coghill)
