Special Counsel Jack Smith has filed a motion asking Judge Aileen Cannon to bar former President Donald Trump from speaking about law enforcement following Trump’s claims that the FBI was planning to assassinate him during a raid on Mar-a-Lago in August 2022. The motion argues that Trump’s statements distort the circumstances of the raid and create a misleading impression about the intentions and conduct of federal law enforcement agents. Smith believes that Trump’s repeated mischaracterizations of the facts have endangered law enforcement officers and threatened the integrity of the proceedings. Smith is requesting the modification of Trump’s conditions of release to prohibit similar communications going forward.
In a Trump campaign email sent to supporters, Trump claimed that FBI agents were “authorized to shoot” him and suggested that they were “itching to do the unthinkable” during the raid on Mar-a-Lago. Trump also made similar claims on Truth Social, accusing the Department of Justice under President Joe Biden of authorizing his assassination. Smith, who has previously investigated Trump resulting in two criminal indictments, is concerned about the potential risk to law enforcement agents involved in the case due to Trump’s allegations. The motion filed by Smith with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida urges Judge Cannon to gag Trump to prevent further provocative statements.
Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee criticized for rulings favoring the former president, is overseeing the federal case related to Trump’s post-presidency handling of classified and sensitive government documents. Cannon has faced scrutiny for her decisions in favor of Trump, and Smith’s motion is urging her to take action to protect law enforcement officers involved in the case. The motion argues that Trump’s false and inflammatory statements about the raid at Mar-a-Lago pose an unacceptable risk to the agents who will be witnesses at trial and could lead to threats, violence, and harassment. Smith is seeking a restriction on Trump’s ability to make similar statements in the future to safeguard the integrity of the proceedings.
The filing by Special Counsel Jack Smith asserts that there was no assassination plot during the FBI raid at Mar-a-Lago in August 2022 but rather the standard “use of force” policy was followed based on the DOJ’s guidelines. Smith emphasizes that the inclusion of the policy is a routine practice to restrict the use of force and is not indicative of a plot to harm Trump. Trump’s repeated mischaracterization of the facts as an attempt to kill him, his family, and Secret Service agents, according to the motion, has put law enforcement officers at risk and undermined the credibility of the legal process. The motion concludes by stating that a restriction on future similar statements from Trump would not impede legitimate speech and, therefore, Trump’s conditions of release should be modified to prevent such communications moving forward.
