Former President Donald Trump Faces Limited Gag Order Requested by Federal Prosecutors in Election Interference Case

Federal prosecutors have requested a limited gag order on former President Donald Trump, citing a pattern of incendiary and intimidating statements made by the former president in the case charging him with scheming to overturn the 2020 election results.

In a court filing on Friday, special counsel Jack Smith’s team argued that recent comments made by Trump about now-former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley and other public officials reinforced their argument that the former president should be restricted in his remarks about the federal election interference case.

The filing highlighted Trump’s comments during an interview this month with NBC News’ “Meet the Press” in which prosecutors said he made “prejudicial statements” about Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr who are both identified as witnesses in the case.

The filing also noted that Trump has made a “sustained campaign of prejudicial public statements” about witnesses, the court, the district, and prosecutors.

The prosecutors argued that the gag order is necessary to ensure a fair trial and to protect the integrity of the judicial process. They noted that the order would not prevent Trump from making public statements about the case, but would require him to refrain from making prejudicial statements about witnesses or other parties in the case.