A court order requested by special counsel Jack Smith that would limit what former president Donald Trump could say publicly about his case on January 6 appeared to be disobeyed by the nation-first billionaire.
According to NBC News, on Tuesday, Trump stated that he “will talk” about the criminal charges he is currently facing in connection with allegations that he attempted to manipulate the 2020 election. In addition, he accused federal prosecutors of “taking away my First Amendment rights.”
NBC stated also:
Last week, Special Counsel Jack Smith asked U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan to impose a so-called protective order that would prevent Trump from disclosing evidence the government turns over to his lawyers as part of the discovery process.
Trump’s own lawyers chose not to object to a protective order and instead requested that the judge put in place a version that is “less restrictive” than the one proposed by the government. Trump’s lawyers asked Chutkan to shield only “genuinely sensitive materials” in order to protect his rights.
But Trump is fighting on multiple fronts as he tries to beat three indictments and win back the presidency. On Tuesday, when he chided prosecutors and President Joe Biden, Trump was battling in the political arena at a rally here.
Trump stated in front of a boisterous audience in Windham, New Hampshire, that Vice President Joe Biden “wants the thug prosecutor, this deranged guy, to file a court order taking away my First Amendment rights so I can’t speak.”
As he prepares for a rematch with Biden in 2024, he remarked that refusing to answer media inquiries about the issue is “not good for votes.”
“I will talk about it, I will. They’re not taking away my First Amendment rights,” he promised.
Trump is also accused with offenses in Florida federal court and New York state court, in addition to the federal allegations regarding the 2020 election. In Georgia, where he attempted to contest his 2020 election loss, he also faces the possibility of state charges.
According to Mediaite, Chutkan denied a request from Trump’s legal team on Monday to delay the hearing on the prospective protection order beyond the original Friday deadline.
Trump’s attorneys stated that they were overworked and requested a postponement, despite Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team stating that they were prepared for a hearing any time this week.
“President Trump will not appear. However, he would like to have both his counsel John Lauro and Todd Blanche at the hearing. Todd Blanche is not available on Thursday, since he must appear for a court proceeding in the prosecution brought against the same defendant, President Trump, by the Special Counsel in SD Florida. Mr. Lauro is available on Thursday, with a preference for an afternoon setting. However, since we lost Friday as an option, we would respectfully request a setting on Monday (after 12:00 p.m.) or Tuesday (all day) to allow for both Mr. Blanche and Mr. Lauro to be present,” Trump’s attorneys said in their plea,” Trump’s attorneys stated in their petition.
Trump’s associate and former Fox News personality Bill O’Reilly stated on Tuesday that there is a single witness who could bring him down in the January 6 case.
“So there’s only one guy that can convict Donald Trump, and that’s Mike Pence,” he asserted. “If Pence goes into the courtroom and says ‘Donald Trump knew the election was not a fraud, but he said it anyway, and I can prove it, and here’s the proof,’ Donald Trump goes down.”
Although he acknowledged that he doubted that Pence could produce evidence, he said that “If somebody like Mark Meadows would say ‘Yeah, I was in the same conversation and Trump said X, Y, and Z,’ the jury in the trial, whatever gets there, that would be really damning.”
This week, at least one interview focused on the funding and expenses of Trump’s political action committee.
On Tuesday, however, the grand jury that indicted Trump last week was observed convening in the federal courtroom in Washington.
According to Bernard Kerik’s attorney, Tim Parlatore, who was present at the interview and provided details to POLITICO, Kerik was extensively questioned about the Save America PAC’s enormous fundraising gain in the weeks preceding the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
From Election Day to January 6, according to Parlatore, everything is in focus.
It has been presumed for a long time that the special counsel is investigating whether Trump or his PAC violated the law by knowingly soliciting funds from fraudulent voter fraud claims. Trump was indicted last week on charges of conspiring to manipulate the 2020 presidential election, but there were no allegations of financial malfeasance.
The interview with Kerik, a loyal ally of Rudy Giuliani, indicates that Smith’s team is still compiling information about how Trump and his associates handled the immediate aftermath of the election and that the investigation’s focus on Trump-related funds remains active. Kerik, who served as New York City’s police commissioner when Giuliani was mayor, assisted Giuliani in his endeavors to contest the election results in the weeks preceding January 6.