Trump fights Jack Smith request for narrow gag order in Jan. 6 case

Attorneys for former president Donald Trump on Monday blasted U.S. prosecutors’ request for a narrow gag order that would bar him from attacking participants in the criminal case charging him with conspiring to overturn the 2020 presidential election, claiming he must be free to campaign for the Republican nomination in 2024.

After the government request was made public Sept. 15, Trump called special counsel Jack Smith “a deranged person” who “wants to take away my rights under the First Amendment.” His attorneys struck a more restrained tone in a 25-page court filing in Washington, D.C., writing that the court “should reject this transparent gamesmanship and deny the motion entirely.”

“Given the significant First Amendment issues presented by the Motion, President Trump respectfully requests the Court schedule a hearing at the first opportunity,” the filing states.

The response joins a battle that promises to be a recurring feature of Trump’s multiple state and federal criminal cases and that highlights challenges facing prosecutors and judges in the historic attempts to prosecute a former American president and active candidate.

Prosecutors in Smith’s office on Sept. 5 asked U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan to stop Trump from spreading prejudicial pretrial publicity. They warned that he was charged with sowing lies that prompted violence and undermined democracy after the 2020 election, and suggested that he appears to be doing so again, this time targeting the judicial system.

Trump argues that he is the victim of political persecution, claiming the Constitution should protect his political speech and candidacy.