Donald Trump’s lawyers responded on Friday to special counsel Jack Smith’s request to prohibit the former president from making any statements that prosecutors think jeopardize law officers participating in the probe.
In a 20-page brief, defense counsel said that Smith “seeks to restrict President Trump’s campaign speech” before of the first debate with President Joe Biden later this month.
Smith’s team petitioned U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon in May to change Trump’s release terms in the case, citing Trump’s bogus assertions about FBI agents threatening to murder him during the Mar-a-Lago search for secret papers. Prosecutors claimed that such utterances “endangered law enforcement officers involved in the investigation and prosecution of this case.”
Trump’s lawyers said that Smith’s motion should be denied due to “the ambiguities, lack of enforcement criteria, and resulting chilling effect.” They also referred to it as “a naked effort to impose totalitarian censorship of core political speech.”
The prosecution claimed that “not a single FBI agent who participated in the raid submitted an affidavit, or even an argument, claiming that President Trump’s remarks put them at risk.”
The FBI has stated that the deadly force authorization that Trump appeared to be referring to in his previous remarks was typical language intended to limit the use of force.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to the secret documents case. The trial has been postponed indefinitely.
Source: nbcnews.com
