“Consequences on impartiality”
Special investigator wants Trump muzzled
September 16, 2023, 1:55 a.m
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The trial against Trump begins in Washington in March. The special investigator now wants to have the ex-president banned from making any statements about the participants in the process. The reason is that his supporters have already experienced hostility following Trump’s previous verbal attacks.
Before the trial against former US President Donald Trump for election conspiracy, special prosecutor Jack Smith asked the court to ban the Republican from speaking in advance about the proceedings. The special counsel appointed by the Justice Department justified his request in federal court in Washington on Friday by saying that Trump was endangering the trial scheduled for March with inflammatory rhetoric.
Trump’s verbal attacks against Justice Department employees, the Washington public and Judge Tanya Chutkan have already led to threats from his supporters against prosecutors, the court and potential jurors, Smith said. The ex-president’s rhetoric could have “a tangible impact on the impartiality of the jury.” “pools” from which the jury for his trial is selected. Witnesses also threatened to be influenced by Trump’s violent statements.
Anyone who heard or read Trump’s comments about the trial “may reasonably fear that they will become the next targets of the defendant’s attacks,” Smith said. The court must therefore instruct the Republican to refrain from making denigrating, inflammatory and intimidating statements about anyone who is actually or potentially involved in the process.
“If you pursue me, I will pursue you!”
Smith listed some of Trump’s public statements in his application. He did this after he was indicted by the federal judiciary at the beginning of August for his attempts to subsequently overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election and thus stay in power.
“If you persecute me, I will persecute you!” was one of them on online networks. After Smith’s statements, Trump also described Judge Chutkan as a “fraud” and Smith’s staff as a “team of gangsters.” The US capital Washington denounced Trump as “dirty and crime-ridden” and its population was “more than 95 percent anti-Trump.”
The trial against Trump is about his supporters’ attempt to storm the congressional session on January 6, 2021, which was supposed to certify Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. Trump has pleaded not guilty and has asked Chutkan to dismiss the case because of bias.
At the end of August, the judge set March 4th as the start date for the proceedings in Washington. It begins one day before the so-called Super Tuesday. Presidential primaries are taking place in more than a dozen states on this day. Trump wants to run for president again.