The high-stakes legal battle surrounding former President Donald Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents has taken a new turn, with U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon rejecting a request for a gag order against the ex-president.
Special counsel Jack Smith, appointed by the Justice Department to oversee the classified documents case, had sought to impose a gag order on Trump, citing concerns over the former president’s “intentionally false and inflammatory” social media posts.
Smith argued that Trump’s rhetoric could “expose those agents, some of whom will be witnesses at trial, to the risk of threats and violence.”
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In a scathing ruling, Judge Cannon, who was appointed to the federal bench by Trump himself, dismissed the prosecutor’s request as “wholly lacking in substance and professional courtesy.” The judge chided the prosecutors for not properly conferring with the defense before making the request, stating that “meaningful conferral is not a perfunctory exercise.”
Trump’s legal team had urged Cannon to reject the gag order request, branding it an “extraordinary, unprecedented, and unconstitutional censorship application” against the former president and presumptive Republican nominee.
This victory for Trump’s defense strategy suggests a willingness to engage in a high-stakes public relations battle, leveraging his platform to shape the narrative surrounding the case.
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