Prosecutors seek to limit Trump speech about law enforcement in classified documents case

Federal prosecutors on Friday requested a gag order on former President Donald Trump that blocks him from making statements that could “pose a significant, imminent, and foreseeable danger to law enforcement agents” in the investigation.

Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday claimed that certain statements from Trump, including his claims that the FBI was "locked and loaded" and ready to take him out, were "false and extremely dangerous." Garland and the FBI have maintained that they followed standard policies regarding the use of deadly force during a raid of Trump's Palm Beach resort Mar-a-Lago in 2022.

The FBI noted that the raid did not pose a direct danger to Trump, because it occurred while he was not on site. The policy Trump was referring to also only allows the use of deadly force when necessary, such as when a person poses a threat to officers. 

The prosecutors on Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team filed the request to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, according to the Associated Press, and claimed the allegations that FBI agents were authorized to “shoot” Trump would expose the law enforcement officers to the risk of “threats, violence, and harassment.” 

The FBI raid in the case was in response to allegations that Trump had failed to turn over classified documents at the end of his presidential term. The agents recovered more than 100 documents with classification markings.

“Trump’s repeated mischaracterization of these facts in widely distributed messages as an attempt to kill him, his family, and Secret Service agents has endangered law enforcement officers involved in the investigation and prosecution of this case and threatened the integrity of these proceedings,” prosecutors argued in their filing. “A restriction prohibiting future similar statements does not restrict legitimate speech.”

Trump's defense lawyers have objected to the government’s motion, prosecutors said, but they have not released a statement on the request as of press time.

Gag orders have been imposed on Trump in two other cases so far. The most notable is his hush money trial, where both sides have now rested. Trump was not allowed to make any comments about the witnesses, the judge’s family, or jurors. 

In his federal election case in Washington, D.C., Trump is not allowed to make comments about the witnesses, lawyers in the case, or court staff,