A “pattern” of threats made to the “targets” of former President Donald Trump has been outlined in a federal court filing asking for a gag order against the ex-president.
Special Counsel Jack Smith asked U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to apply a “narrowly tailored” gag order to Trump in a motion filed on Friday. Chutkan is overseeing Trump’s case on four felony charges related to 2020 presidential election interference and the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges and claims to be the victim of a “witch hunt.”
In response to Newsweek’s request for comment on Friday night, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement that Smith’s motion was an indication that “Crooked Joe Biden’s weaponized DOJ are corruptly and cynically continuing to attempt to deprive President Trump of his First Amendment rights.”
“This is nothing more than blatant election interference because President Trump is by far the leading candidate in this race,” Cheung added. “The American people—the voters—see right through this un-Constitutional charade and will send President Trump back to the White House.”
Megan Varner
Smith’s filing argues that Trump, who continues to push claims that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him by President Joe Biden—despite the courts rejecting his voter fraud allegations more than 60 times—had “trained his focus on the election system” and associated officials in the months between his November 3, 2020, loss and the January 6 siege on the Capitol.
“As a result, the defendant engendered widespread mistrust in the administration of the election, and the individuals whom he targeted were subject to threats and harassment,” the filing continues, before citing several specific examples.
While the names of the “targets” are redacted in the filing, examples include Trump’s social media badgering of a Republican election official in Pennsylvania who determined that there was no evidence of any significant fraud. The official said that “graphic” threats were made against him and his family in the aftermath of Trump’s attention.
Other officials singled out by Trump said that they were also threatened with violence as a result, according to the filing, including at least one person who had their home address shared online and another who required police protection due to threats from Trump supporters.
Threats against a federal cybersecurity official who was fired by Trump—after announcing that the elections were secure—are also detailed in the filing, including a statement from a Trump lawyer who said that the official “should be drawn and quartered” and “taken out at dawn and shot” for refusing to back the claims of the 2020 election loser.
The filing also highlights more recent social media posts from Trump, including a Truth Social post that saw the former president threatening to “go after” those who “come after” him, and additional attacks on Chutkan and others involved in his three criminal proceedings.
Smith’s filing argues that Trump “knows that when he publicly attacks individuals and institutions, he inspires others to perpetrate threats and harassment against his targets.”
“The defendant continues these attacks on individuals precisely because he knows that in doing so, he is able to roil the public and marshal and prompt his supporters,” the filing continues. “As he acknowledged in a televised town hall on May 10, 2023, his supporters listen to him ‘like no one else.'”