Former federal prosecutor describes Trump’s latest legal filing as 'tired and laughable'
Former President Donald Trump's legal team submitted a Thanksgiving day filing in Washington, DC court in response to special counsel Jack Smith concerning his federal gag order, and a veteran former federal prosecutor is criticizing it as a means to "shirk blame."
Trump's filing was in response to Smith Rule 28(j) notice, which was meant to notify the District of Columbia Court of Appeals about the threats to Judge Arthur Engoron and law clerk Allison Greenfield after a gag order imposed during New York during Trump's civil fraud trial was halted. The DC appellate court is currently considering whether to uphold US District Judge Tanya Chutkan's gag order that she reinstated in late October following a 10-day pause in which she heard arguments against it from Trump's attorneys. Smith submitted the notice in response to both Judge Engoron and Greenfield getting a barrage of anti-Semitic death threats from Trump supporters after the former president attacked them both on his Truth Social platform just hours after the gag order was lifted.
The November 23 filing from the former president's defense counsel argues that Trump shouldn't be held accountable for actions in a separate jurisdiction, and accused Smith of wanting to impose "a speech burden based on audience reactions."
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"Both the indictment and the gag order represent an unconstitutional attempt to silence President Trump; they are clearly election interference," the filing read.
In a post to her Substack, Joyce Vance — the former US Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama — said Trump's team is "insinuating that he is not to blame for what other people do."
"That is a tired and laughable effort to shirk blame at this point," Vance wrote. "Even if Trump might have argued, years ago, that he was unaware of the effect his words had on his followers, that time is long past."
"We cannot say it loudly enough or frequently enough: Trump continues to be a danger to us. Anyone who doesn’t understand that they or someone they love, their children or grandchildren, could be the next one subjected to the treatment Judge Engoron’s law clerk is receiving, or that Fulton County election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss were subjected to, isn’t paying attention. There are very real risks," she continued. "We've seen enough. Now it’s time to get to work and make sure Trump never holds public office again."
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