Takeaways from Monday’s big hearings in the Trump classified documents case

CNN —

During a long day of hearings in Fort Pierce, Florida, Judge Aileen Cannon challenged prosecutors from special counsel Jack Smith’s team to show how former President Donald Trump’s repeated comments about the FBI translated into a threat against law enforcement officers.

The special counsel’s office says that a gag order is needed because Trump has repeatedly, and misleadingly, alleged that the agents who searched his Mar-a-Lago estate in 2022 were authorized to murder him.

WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA - JUNE 14: Former President Donald Trump speaks before members of the Club 47 group at the Palm Beach Convention Center on June 14, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Florida. Trump celebrated his 78th birthday during the event. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Related live-story Judge Cannon hears arguments over gag order against Trump in Mar-a-Lago case

Cannon did not seem inclined to approve the limitations on Trump’s speech but did not immediately issue a ruling.

The judge also heard arguments on Trump’s long-shot motion alleging that the special counsel’s office is being improperly funded. She did not rule on that motion either.

Here’s what to know from Monday’s hearings:

Cannon is skeptical of a gag order

Cannon showed some skepticism toward prosecutors’ arguments, asking where they saw a call to violence in Trump’s comments and saying that they had needed to show some connecting facts between what the former president has said and the threats they are warning about.

Cannon said that the statute prosecutors are citing for the gag order “still requires a finding” related to the potential risks to others, noting that prosecutors don’t need a direct cause.

“There still needs to be a factual connection