Topline
The judge in former President Donald Trump’s classified documents case rejected special counsel Jack Smith’s request for a partial gag order limiting Trump’s ability to speak on the case, siding with Trump’s team, which argued the special counsel failed to “meet and confer” with Trump’s lawyers before filing the motion, as tensions between Smith and Trump’s legal team continue to flare.
Former President Donald Trump speaks at the New Hampshire Federation of Republican Women Lilac ... [+]
Key Facts
In her order, Cannon said the special counsel’s efforts to confer with Trump’s legal team was “wholly lacking in substance and professional courtesy.”
The two sides are required to confer to discuss a motion before it is filed, but in her order, Cannon said the special counsel’s email correspondence with Trump’s team did not meet the “basic requirements” of a conferral, noting “sufficient time needs to be afforded” to review the motion and for any potential follow-up discussions.
Cannon ordered that future motions should include no more than 200 words from the opposing side summarizing the discussion, and noted failure to comply with conferral requirements “may result in sanctions.”
Smith had sought the partial gag order Friday because of Trump’s recent comments falsely alleging that President Joe Biden allowed the FBI to use lethal force when it raided Mar-a-Lago seeking classified documents in 2022, with Smith arguing the comments were “intentionally false and inflammatory” and risked the safety of agents involved in the raid.
In a fiery response to Smith’s team, Trump’s lawyers on Monday requested Cannon impose sanctions on Smith and make civil contempt findings over the motion, alleging the special counsel refused an offer to meet with Trump’s team to confer on the motion Monday and appeared to dismiss the importance of conferral.
Chief Critic
“This is bad-faith behavior, plain and simple,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in a filing admonishing Smith for notifying them about the order on the Friday evening before Memorial Day weekend, refusing to meet Monday and failing to identify “any direct evidence of the purported safety risks they claim exist.”
Contra
In a series of tense back-and-forth emails about the motion, Smith’s team argued Trump’s statements had created risks to law enforcement, necessitating the swift issuance of a gag order and arguing “further conferral” beyond the email correspondence would be a “fruitless exercise and does nothing to mitigate the danger your client is creating.”
Key Background
The former president falsely claimed last week that Biden authorized the FBI agents who raided Mar-a-Lago in 2022 as part of the classified documents case to use lethal force. But Trump was referring to boilerplate language included in the FBI search warrant that allows agents to use force in the case of an emergency. The FBI said the inclusion of that language is “standard protocol” consistent with “all search warrants.” The agency also said “no one ordered additional steps to be taken and there was no departure from the norm in this matter.” Still, Trump’s social media posts prompted criticisms of the FBI from his allies. Trump’s social media posts have long garnered scrutiny amid his ongoing court procedures. He has multiple gag orders across his court cases—and has been fined in his New York hush money case for violating it due to posts on social media.
