Trump lawyers demand Jack Smith be sanctioned for gag order request after ex-president’s outburst on FBI raid

Donald Trump’s lawyers demanded a judge repremand federal proseccutors for their “bad-faith behavior” after Special Counsel Jack Smith filed a gag order request before the holiday weekend after the former president ranted on Truth Social about the classified document case.

In amotion filed on Monday evening, Chris Kise – a lawyer for Mr Trump – asked Florida federal Judge Aileen Cannon to hold “all government attorneys who participated in the decision to file the motion” in civil contempt and impose sanctions after an evidentiary hearing.

It arrives days after Mr Smith’s office requested Judge Cannon modify the conditions of Mr Trump’s release by preventing him from making statements that could pose a threat to law enforcement agents who participated in the Mar-a-Lago raid. The former presidentcriticized agents in a Truth Social post on Thursday after it was revealed that agents were authorized to use “deadly force” during the raid.

“WOW! I just came out of the Biden Witch Hunt Trial in Manhattan, the ‘Icebox,’ and was shown Reports that Crooked Joe Biden’s DOJ, in their illegal and UnConstitutional Raid of Mar-a-Lago, AUTHORIZED THE FBI TO USE DEADLY (LETHAL) FORCE,” Trump wrote. “NOW WE KNOW, FOR SURE, THAT JOE BIDEN IS A SERIOUS THREAT TO DEMOCRACY. HE IS MENTALLY UNFIT FOR OFFICE — 25TH AMENDMENT!”

That led Smith to file the request to gag the president from making public statements. In requesting their gag order, Mr Smith’s team argued that Mr Trump’s false claims that FBI agents “were complicit in a plot to assassinate him,” expose agents (some of whom could testify in the case) and their loved ones “to the risk of threats, violence, and harassment.”

But Mr Kise believes the filing was rushed and did not follow