2023-09-17 09:53:00
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Donald Trump should be banned from verbal attacks – this is what special investigator Jack Smith is demanding in the election conspiracy trial. Trump reacts harshly.
Washington – Before the trial against former US President Donald Trump in the USA for election conspiracy, special investigator Jack Smith asked the responsible court to ban the Republican from speaking in advance about the proceedings. The special investigator appointed by the Justice Department justified his application to the federal court by saying that Trump was endangering the trial planned for March with inflammatory rhetoric.
Since the jury indicted Trump in the case, the 77-year-old has made public statements attacking and intimidating the court, potential witnesses and prosecutors, according to a motion filed by Smith on Friday. In doing so, Trump could “undermine the integrity of the process and influence the jury.”
US special investigator Jack Smith wants Donald Trump to be banned from making public statements about his trial. © Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP
Trump’s verbal attacks against the Justice Department, the Washington public and Judge Tanya Chutkan had already had consequences, Smith explained: His fans were threatening the prosecutor’s office, the court and potential jury members.
Trump’s rhetoric could influence the impartiality of the jury
The ex-president’s rhetoric could have “a tangible impact on the impartiality of the jury pool” from which the jurors for his trial are selected. Witnesses also threatened to be influenced by Trump’s violent statements.
Anyone who heard or read Trump’s comments about the trial “may reasonably fear that they will become the next targets of the defendant’s attacks,” Smith said. Smith therefore asked the court to issue a “narrow order” prohibiting Trump from making certain statements about his case. The judge initially did not comment on the application.
Trump: “I will persecute you”
Smith listed some of Trump’s public statements in his application. The ex-president made this after he was indicted by the federal judiciary at the beginning of August – because of his attempts to subsequently overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election and thus stay in power.
“If you persecute me, I will persecute you!” was one of his statements in online networks. In addition, after Smith’s statements, Trump described the judge in charge, Chutkan, as a “fraud” and Smith’s staff as a “team of gangsters.” The US capital Washington denounced Trump as “dirty and crime-ridden” and its population was “more than 95 percent anti-Trump”.
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Trump reacts combatively to threat of gag order
Trump responded belligerently to Smith’s demand that he be muzzled. In his online network Truth Social, he wrote about US President Joe Biden that he was an “incompetent person”. He is using the Justice Department and the FBI “as a weapon” against him with a view to the upcoming presidential election. “They leak things, they lie and sue me – and now they want to ban me from speaking?” Trump raged.
The trial against Trump is about his fans’ attempt to storm the congressional session on January 6, 2021, which was supposed to certify Democrat Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. Trump has pleaded not guilty and has asked Chutkan to dismiss the case because of bias.
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