Multiply-indicted former president Donald Trump is once again in very hot water due to his inability to keep his threats to himself, and could be on the verge of being punished legally for his actions.
Special Counsel Jack Smith has filed an emergency motion with U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan accusing the disgraced ex-president of threatening his former chief of staff Mark Meadows.
ABC News reports:
In a filing Wednesday night to the judge presiding over Trump’s federal election interference case in Washington, Smith’s team said Trump’s “harmful” post on Truth Social was trying to “send an unmistakable and threatening message to a foreseeable witness in this case.”
Smith’s team argued to U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan that the alleged threat is just one more example of why a limited gag order in the case is needed as soon as possible.
Chutkan had issued such a gag order early last week but then temporarily suspended it after the former president’s legal team appealed the judge’s order to a higher court.
Here’s the post that drew the court filing from Smith. It was made on Trump’s failing Truth Social site:
I don’t think Mark Meadows would lie about the Rigged and Stollen 2020 Presidential Election merely for getting IMMUNITY against Prosecution (PERSECUTION!) by Deranged Prosecutor, Jack Smith. BUT, when you really think about it, after being hounded like a dog for three years, told you’ll be going to jail for the rest of your life, your money and your family will be forever gone, and we’re not at all interested in exposing those that did the RIGGING — If you say BAD THINGS about that terrible “MONSTER,” DONALD J. TRUMP, we won’t put you in prison, you can keep your family and your wealth, and, perhaps, if you can make up some really horrible “STUFF” a out him, we may very well erect a statue of you in the middle of our decaying and now very violent Capital, Washington, D.C. Some people would make that deal, but they are weaklings and cowards, and so bad for the future our Failing Nation. I don’t think that Mark Meadows is one of them, but who really knows? MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!
The filing from Smith’s team alleges that Trump has a “long and well-documented history of using his public platform to target disparaging and inflammatory comments at perceived adversaries. When the defendant does so, harassment, threats, and intimidation foreseeably and predictably follow.”
Just last week, Judge Chutkan issued a limited gag order that specifically prohibited Trump from attacking the special counsel or members of his team, court staff, or any witnesses in the ongoing case, which is scheduled for trial in March of next year.
Smith notes in the filing, “Recent social media posts targeting a known witness in this case in an attempt to influence and intimidate him” necessitate a more stringent gag order.
