Prosecutors want Trump restricted from giving statements about “the identity, testimony, or credibility of prospective witnesses”.
That is one day before “Super Tuesday”, a potentially decisive date in the Republican presidential race, when states from Maine to California will hold their nominating contests. Opinion polls show Trump leading his rivals by a wide margin.
Trump showed no signs of toning down his words, complaining about the motion on his social media platform, Truth Social, shortly after it was filed and repeating his claim that the FBI and Justice Department had been “weaponised”. He repeated his familiar refrains that President Joe Biden was “crooked” and that Smith was “deranged”.
Beyond the narrow gag order, prosecutors also asked for an order that would prevent the Trump team from contacting District of Columbia residents to conduct polling, jury studies and focus groups without the judge’s permission.