Jack Smith's New Gag Order Request Cites Trump 'Potentially Violating Terms of Release' in Viral Glock Video
Special counsel Jack Smith is again requesting that a gag order be placed on former President Donald Trump, citing Trump’s recent remarks against retiring Army Gen. Mark Milley and the judge presiding over his case, along with a viral video that showed Trump admiring a firearm and saying he wanted to buy it.
Earlier this month, Smith asked U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to place a limited gag order on Trump and members of his legal team. A hearing on that request is scheduled for Oct. 16, according to The Washington Post.
Smith filed another motion in Chutkan’s court on Friday, again asking the court for a gag order on Trump and accusing him of “potentially violating his conditions of release.”
The motion cited a video showing Trump at the Palmetto State Armory gun store in Summerville, South Carolina, admiring a Glock with his likeness engraved on it.
“I want to buy one,” Trump is heard saying in the video.
Guns with Trump’s likeness on them are huge sellers, the Washington Examiner reported in April.
Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Trump’s campaign wrote in a since-deleted post that Trump had purchased the gun, according to The New York Times.
Cheung later retracted his claim and clarified that Trump “did not purchase or take possession of the firearm. He simply indicated that he wanted one,” the Times reported.
Still, Smith argued that Trump “either purchased a gun in violation of the law and his conditions of release,” or he is trying to “benefit from his supporters’ mistaken belief that he did so.”
Trump faces 91 felony charges in four different criminal cases.
“It would be a separate federal crime, and thus a violation of the defendant’s conditions of release, for him to purchase a gun while this felony indictment is pending,” Smith wrote.
Trump handles custom “Trump 45” Glock at Palmetto State Armory in Summerville, SC
American badass 🇺🇸🔥 pic.twitter.com/kUdWL48dMz
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) September 25, 2023
According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms website, it is against federal law for an individual under felony indictment to buy a firearm.
In asking for the gag order, Smith pointed out Trump’s recent comment accusing Milley, the former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, of treason.
“Mark Milley, who led perhaps the most embarrassing moment in American history with his grossly incompetent implementation of the withdrawal from Afghanistan … will be leaving the military next week,” Trump wrote in a lengthy Truth Social post last week.
“This guy turned out to be a Woke train wreck who, if the Fake News reporting is correct, was actually dealing with China to give them a heads up on the thinking of the President of the United States.
“This is an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!” he wrote. “A war between China and the United States could have been the result of this treasonous act.”
Smith responded: “No other criminal defendant would be permitted to issue public statements insinuating that a known witness in his case should be executed; this defendant should not be, either.”
Smith further noted Trump’s comments on social about Chutkan to judge his case fairly, as well as Trump being heavily critical of Smith’s office.
“Contrary to the defendant’s claim, the Government is not trying to ‘unconstitutionally silence’ the defendant … and the proposed [gag] order would have no such effect,” he wrote.
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