Trump Attacks Special Counsel's Wife As His Lawyers Argue No Gag Order Is Needed To Restrain Him

You think YOU hate that guy? His lawyers hate him MORE!

A normal person contesting a gag order would SHUT THE HELL UP.

A rational actor might moderate his tone, knowing that his lawyers have to make a case in court next week that their client can be trusted not to intimidate witnesses or incite his lunatic followers to violence.

But no one has ever accused Donald Trump of being normal or rational, so of course he spent the weekend on the campaign trail publicly attacking Special Counsel Jack Smith’s family.

Here he is in Florida last week at one of his pitchfork rallies complaining about the election interference prosecution in DC. (Video is courtesy of Acyn from MeidasTouch)

This isn’t the first time Trump went after Smith’s wife, a filmmaker who produced a documentary about Michelle Obama and donates to Democrats. In January, he referred to her on Truth Social as “a serial and open Trump Hater.”

This behavior is frankly psychotic, and Trump’s own lawyer John Lauro couldn’t defend it other than to insist that it was protected speech. Just like the time Trump called Mike Pence, the star witness against him, “delusional.” Or said that Bill Barr, another witness, was “Dumb, Weak, Slow Moving, Lethargic, Gutless, and Lazy.” Or the time when he said that Gen. Mark Milley, yet another witness, should be executed.

“He’s allowed to do that in unfettered terms, even if it means mentioning a prosecutor's family?” Judge Tanya Chutkan asked incredulously during an October 16 hearing with respect to the government’s motion for a gag order.

“It’s clearly within the First Amendment,” Lauro protested. “It’s not something that as an officer of the court that I would engage in, and Your Honor knows I haven’t engaged in anything like that. But President Trump firmly believes, firmly believes that these proceedings are politically motivated by a politically motivated prosecutor, and he has pointed out examples of how this prosecutor is politically motivated.”

In the event, Judge Chutkan granted a limited gag order barring Trump from attacking witnesses, prosecutors, and court staff in the case. But she briefly stayed the ruling to allow Trump to make his case that it ought to be permanently held in abeyance pending his appeal. The former president celebrated this pause by attacking Mark Meadows on the subject of his testimony in this very case.

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!!!

Lauro then responded by pointing to this act of blatant witness intimidation and claiming that it would be just TERRIBLE if his client were barred from repeating it.

“If the Gag order had been in effect, President Trump would have been unable to respond to, or rebut, the false claims about his interactions with his former chief of staff—an issue that is important to many Americans in connection with the 2024 election,” Lauro wrote.

Credit where due: That lawyer has BRASS BALLS. Although he tends to swing them around without worrying what he might hit, such as when he argued that there was no proof that Trump’s supporters acted on his suggestions. This was probably news to Judge Chutkan, who had to beef up her security detail in the face of threats, including from a Trump supporter who is under indictment after leaving a voicemail for the judge saying, "Hey you stupid slave n----- …. You are in our sights, we want to kill you.”

Lauro has repeatedly referred to a ban on Trump riling up his supporters as a “classic heckler’s veto,” and OMG DUDE JUST STOP.

Trump’s gag order appeal is before the US Circuit Court in DC, which set a lightning-fast briefing schedule, with oral argument on Monday, November 20. And if you click the link, you will see that this case is before Judges Patricia Millet, Cornelia Pillard, and Brad Garcia — appointed by Obama, Obama, and Biden respectively. Suffice it to say, this is not the panel Trump was hoping for. But they did do Trump a solid and issue an administrative stay of the gag order pending appeal. So, at least he can’t be held to have violated it by his recent appalling behavior.

In short, Trump is a disgusting terrorist who deliberately goads his supporters to violence, just as he did on January 6, 2021. And gag order or no, he’s not going to stop until he’s in jail or in the ground.

But still, GAG HIM, NOW, please. The man is a fucking menace.

[US v. Trump, DDC Docket via Court Listener / US v. Trump, DC Circuit Docket via Court Listener]

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