Special Counsel Jack Smith recently called on U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to issue a gag order on former President Donald Trump, citing the former president’s visit to a gun store in South Carolina.
In a court filing, Smith argued that Trump should not be able to “obtain the benefits of his incendiary public statements” and later “avoid accountability” through “feign[ed] retraction,” Just The News reported.
Smith’s comments are a reference to a video on social media showing Trump at a gun store in South Carolina, where the former president said he’d like to purchase a firearm bearing his name on it. It has not been indicated whether the former president ended up purchasing the weapon.
Trump’s spokesman, Steven Cheung, initially said that the former president had purchased the firearm, but hours later issued a statement, saying, “President Trump did not purchase or take possession of the firearm. He simply indicated that he wanted one.”
Statement from Team Trump:
“President Trump did not purchase or take possession of the firearm. He simply indicated that he wanted one”. #Glock #trump
— Brian Glenn (@brianglenntv) September 25, 2023
“The defendant either purchased a gun in violation of the law and his conditions of release or seeks to benefit from his supporters’ mistaken belief that he did so,” Smith wrote.
The court filing also cited Trump’s recent statements concerning the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, as reported by The Hill.
Trump recently accused Milley of committing treason for communicating with China during the Capitol protests of Jan. 6, 2021, according to Just The News.
“In sum, the Court may enter an order, in this case, restricting the parties’ extrajudicial statements if the statements present a ‘substantial likelihood of material prejudice’ as long as the Court’s order is narrowly tailored to the objections of preventing comments that are likely to influence the actual outcome of trial or are likely to prejudice the venire,” Smith wrote in the filing.
This is Smith’s latest attempt at going after Trump’s freedoms. Not only does Smith, whose wife worked with former First Lady Michelle Obama to produce a documentary, want to take away the former president’s First Amendment rights but now he is coming after Trump’s Second Amendment.
Smith’s request for a gag order is nonsensical, considering that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives does not include the act of being federally indicted as a reason for barring someone from purchasing a firearm, much less admiring one.
