WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump rejected this Monday the request of the prosecution to restrict the information he can share publicly about his landmark trial for alleged “conspiracy” to tamper with the 2020 election results.
“They should not put a restraining order on me, because it would violate my right to FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION,” said the now-favorite Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential elections, in a message on his platform TruthSocial.
“The deranged Jack Smith and the Department of Justice should instead, because they are illegally ‘leaking’ everywhere!” he added, referring to the special prosecutor leading the case.
In a court appearance, lawyers for the former president also argued Monday that Smith’s proposed restrictions would violate Trump’s right to free speech under the First Amendment to the Constitution.
Prosecutors on Friday asked US District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan, who will preside over the case, for a restraining order after Trump posted “If you go for me, I’ll go for you!” in TruthSocial.
“Such a restriction is particularly important in this case because the defendant has previously issued public statements on social media about witnesses, judges, attorneys, and others linked to pending legal matters against him,” prosecutors alleged.
“If the defendant began to publish public messages using details -or, for example, grand jury transcripts- obtained here, it could have a chilling effect on witnesses or negatively affect the impartial administration of justice in this case,” the prosecution justifies before the judge to silence the former president.
In his response to the Joe Biden administration’s motion, Trump attorney John Lauro said prosecutors were asking the court to “assume the role of censor and impose content-based regulations on President Trump’s political speech.” .
Lauro asked the judge to limit the protection order to “genuinely sensitive materials,” and to “preserve President Trump’s First Amendment rights.”
The court filing came just hours after Trump repeated his demand that Chutkan, the appointee of former Democratic President Barack Obama, be disqualified from the case.
The Republican unleashed a torrent of expletives against those prosecuting him for allegedly trying to rig the results of the 2020 election.
On Sunday, Trump said: “There is no way I can get a fair trial with the judge ‘assigned’ to the ridiculous free speech/fair elections case. Everyone knows that, and so does she.”
Trump also signaled that he would try to move the trial out of the largely Democratic-leaning nation’s capital.
Chutkan, 61, has a legal history with Trump, having ruled against him in a November 2021 case in which he specifically stated that “presidents are not kings.”
He has also handed down sentences against Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol in January 2021.
FOUNTAIN: With information from AFP
