Following Donald Trump’s outbursts in his New York fraud trial that resulted in a gag order against him, US Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith has requested protections for jurors and prospective jurors ahead of the former president’s trial in his election subversion case.
Last week, the judge presiding over a lawsuit from New York Attorney General Letitia James against Mr Trump’s business empire warned he could face “serious sanctions” if he continues to speak out against members of the court after he falsely attacked Judge Arthur Engoron’s chief clerk on his Truth Social account.
In his filing to US District Judge Tanya Chutkan on 10 October, Mr Smith said that among the “good reasons” for the court to impose certain restrictions on juror information, “chief among them is the defendant’s continued use of social media as a weapon of intimidation in court proceedings.”
The filing notes that “just last week the defendant escalated his conduct and publicly attacked” Judge Engoron’s clerk in New York Supreme Court.
“Given that the defendant – after apparently reviewing opposition research on court staff – chose to use social media to publicly attack a court staffer, there is cause for concern about what he may do with social media research on potential jurors in this case,” Mr Smith warned.
Mr Trump’s efforts to reverse his loss in the 2020 presidential election yielded four criminal charges in a 45-page indictment, alleging a multi-state scheme built on a legacy of lies and conspiracy theories to undermine the democratic process.
A request from the special counsel to protect the jury pool in what will be a highly scrutinised federal trial in Washington DC asks the judge to issue a jury questionnaire that would excuse potential jurors without their physical appearance in court. It also requests “reasonable boundaries” around the questionnaire process that would prohibit the public identification of potential and selected jurors.
Mr Trump’s attorneys have opposed the motion, according to Mr Smith.
The special counsel has also separately requested a partial gag order after the former president “repeatedly and widely disseminated public statements” attacking Washington DC residents as well as members of the court, prosecutors and prospective witnesses, according to a filing last month.
Mr Trump’s statements threaten “to undermine the integrity of these proceedings and prejudice the jury pool,” Mr Smith’s office had warned.
Shortly after the request was filed, the former president lashed out on his Truth Social platform and called the special counsel “deranged”.
Judge Chutkan will hold a hearing on Mr Smith’s request for a partial gag order on 16 October.
And in Georgia, the office of Fulton County District Attorney has asked a judge to restrict the release of any information about jurors involved with the sprawling criminal case against Mr Trump and 18 other defendants accused of conspiring to overturn election results in Georgia.
The former president’s supporters published jurors’ names, social media profiles, addresses and phone numbers as part of an apparent online harassment campaign fuelled by right-wing outrage over a sprawling grand jury indictment against the former president and others allegedly involved in the scheme. Under Georgia law, names of the grand jurors were included in the indictment.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee has prohibited filming or photographing jurors and prospective jurors and recording their conversations or statements, and none of the parties involved in the case may disclose any identifiable information about them, unless permitted by the court.
