Last week, we learned of the startling revelation that the FBI was authorized to use "deadly force" during the raid on Mar-a-Lago on August 8, 2022 to search for classified documents at the home of former and potentially future President Donald Trump. The reaction from Trump was swift and severe, and that included a campaign email mentioning how "Joe Biden was locked & loaded ready to take me out & put my family in danger." Special Counsel Jack Smith hasn't taken too kindly to Trump's reaction, and in a Friday night filing, requested a gag order.
As Fox News reported:
In the motion filed to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who is presiding over the classified documents case in Florida, Smith requested Trump be prohibited from making statements that "pose a significant, imminent, and foreseeable danger to law enforcement agents participating in the investigation and prosecution of this case." Trump claimed in a campaign appeal that FBI agents were "locked & loaded ready to take me out & put my family in danger."
"These deceptive and inflammatory claims expose the law enforcement professionals who are involved in this case to unjustified and unacceptable risks," Smith’s filing reads.
The FBI has said such contingencies are routine and that similar language was contained in an operational plan accompanying a subsequent search of President Biden's properties in Delaware.
The Justice Department says the policy is routine and meant to limit, rather than encourage, the use of force during searches. Prosecutors noted that the search of the Florida property was intentionally conducted when Trump and his family were out of state and was coordinated in advance with the U.S. Secret Service. Still, the revelation that the dozens of agents sent to search the home were prepared for potential violence was jarring to Trump's supporters, who say the two incidents don't compare since the Justice Department is part of Biden's own administration.
Smith’s filing cites Trump's claim that the FBI "was authorized to shoot me," and was "just itching to do the unthinkable."
"They invite the sort of threats and harassment that have occurred when other participants in legal proceedings against Trump have been targeted by his invective," Smith wrote. "Those risks have the potential to undermine the integrity of the proceedings as well as jeopardize the safety of law enforcement."
The order about "deadly force" was revealed after Trump's attorneys filed a motion to dismiss and suppress.
As pointed out, prosecutors have tried to downplay the use of the policy, but the mention of "deadly force" at all is still concerning when it comes to raiding the home of a former president.
The "Trump supporters" mentioned in the Fox News report have plenty of concerns to raise about President Joe Biden weaponizing and politicizing his Department of Justice (DOJ) to go after his top political opponent for November. Biden reportedly expressed frustration about how Attorney General Merrick Garland was handling the matter.
The various criminal trials where Trump is a defendant have been criticized as election interference. The email in question from Trump also referred to "Biden's corrupt regime."
"Regardless of one's interpretation of the language in the warrant, Trump should be within his rights to question the necessity of such an overbearing use of federal authority and power in a case about documents, Bob Hoge at our sister site of RedState also pointed out, with original emphasis.
The Fox News report also highlighted how Smith took issue with the filing from the Trump attorneys, as it left out mention of "only" when it comes to this "deadly force" reference:
The operational plan was revealed when Trump's legal team filed a motion asking that documents relating to the raid be made public. Smith says Trump’s attorneys omitted a key word —"only" in their motion earlier this week that prompted Trump to make the FBI accusations.
"Although Trump included the warrant and Operations Form as exhibits to his motion, the motion misquoted the Operations Form by omitting the crucial word "only" before "when necessary," without any ellipsis reflecting the omission. The motion also left out language explaining that deadly force is necessary only "when the officer has a reasonable belief that the subject of such force poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to the officer or to another person."
"Those statements create a grossly misleading impression about the intentions and conduct of federal law enforcement agents — falsely suggesting that they were complicit in a plot to assassinate him — and expose those agents, some of whom will be witnesses at trial, to the risk of threats, violence, and harassment," prosecutors added.
The case has seen a flurry of motions. Earlier this month, Judge Cannon indefinitely postponed the trial, as Spencer covered at the time.
The court determined "that finalization of a trial date at this juncture—before resolution of the myriad and interconnected pre-trial and CIPA issues remaining and forthcoming—would be imprudent and inconsistent with the Court’s duty to fully and fairly consider the various pending pre-trial motions before the Court, critical [Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA)] issues, and additional pretrial and trial preparations necessary to present this case to a jury."
Trump has also faced gag orders with his other criminal trials to do with hush money payments. Concerns about the constitutional rights of defendants have been raised with regards to such gag orders.