Former President Trump’s legal team fired back after special counsel Jack Smith asked a judge to put a stop to his false claims that FBI agents had a green light to assassinate him during their search for documents at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
A late Friday filing from the Justice Department pointed to what it deemed “several intentionally false and inflammatory statements” that violate existing limitations placed on Trump as part of his conditions of pretrial release.
Trump’s team said Monday that the request amounted to an “unconstitutional gag order.” His lawyers asked for sanctions for members of Smith’s team, arguing prosecutors failed to confer with them before filing their motion, violating judge’s orders.
Prosecutors’ move asks Judge Aileen Cannon to clarify that Trump “may not make statements that pose a significant, imminent, and foreseeable danger to law enforcement agents” working on the case.
Trump’s outrageous claims stem from standard language prepared ahead of a search that bars officers from deadly force unless someone “poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to the officer or to another person.”
The former president and allies have zeroed in on the document, with the Trump campaign sending out a fundraising email saying “DOJ was authorized to shoot me” and that “Joe Biden was locked & loaded ready to take me out.”
Trump was not home the day his Florida estate was searched — a decision made by law enforcement to avoid any confrontation.
Prosecutors argue the email as well as other statements made on social media give “a grossly misleading impression” and also falsely suggest agents who are likely to testify in the case “were complicit in a plot to assassinate him.”
The request is not the first time federal prosecutors have asked for limitations on Trump’s speech, including in the Jan. 6 case likewise brought by Smith’s office. A previous battle resulted in a gag order limiting Trump’s attacks on witnesses after a judge determined they were likely to spark harassment from his supporters and posed a risk of violence.
“As with prior filings by the Office, the Motion fails to identify any direct evidence of the purported safety risks they claim exist,” Trump’s attorneys wrote Monday.
“The Motion is an extraordinary, unprecedented, and unconstitutional censorship application,” they added. “The Motion unjustly targets President Trump’s campaign speech while he is the leading candidate for the presidency.”
The response from Trump’s team also blasts Smith’s team for issuing notification about the plans until 5:30 p.m. the Friday ahead of Memorial Day weekend, saying the late communication violated orders from Cannon that the parties confer before any motions they file.
Trump’s team likewise asked for the judge to schedule a hearing on the matter — a move that would further fill the court calendar in a case in which the judge has said she must work through other pretrial motions before setting a trial date.
Updated at 12:41 p.m. ET