Prosecutors cite Trump’s social media posts in seeking protective order

The Justice Department urged in a Friday-evening court filing that a federal judge in Washington impose firm rules on Donald Trump and his attorneys as they review materials during the discovery process for his trial, citing, in part, the former president’s history of revealing details about cases on social media.

The filing comes as the federal case centered on Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election gets underway. Trump pleaded not guilty Thursday to four crimes that the government has accused him of committing, including scheming to disrupt the election process and depriving Americans of their right to have their votes counted.

The government and Trump’s lawyers are working out proposed rules to which the former president and his legal team must adhere when they review evidence materials during the discovery process — when the defense team reviews all the evidence that the government has collected in the case. It is a standard part of the legal process, and a judge must sign off on the agreement. Evidence that is handed over in the discovery process includes grand jury interviews, recordings and materials obtained through sealed search warrants.

The government’s proposed agreement — called a protective order — dictates that Trump and his lawyers not disclose any of the materials they receive during the discovery process to people who are not authorized by the court to have knowledge of the materials.

Prosecutors said that while the agreement is not stricter than ones in standard criminal cases, it is particularly important in this case because Trump has posted about judges, lawyers and witnesses involved in the multiple ongoing cases in which he is a defendant.

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The filing includes an image of a threatening post that Trump wrote on the Truth Social platform earlier Friday afternoon, apparently in reference to the D.C. case, that reads: “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!”

Former president Donald Trump appeared at a D.C. courthouse on Aug. 3 for an arraignment on charges that he conspired to overturn the 2020 election results. (Video: HyoJung Kim/The Washington Post, Photo: Tom Brenner/The Washington Post)

“If the defendant were to begin issuing public posts using details — or, for example, grand jury transcripts — obtained in discovery here, it could have a harmful chilling effect on witnesses or adversely affect the fair administration of justice in this case,” reads the filing, signed by special counsel Jack Smith.

The filing also states that Trump and his attorneys should be barred from writing down any identifying information about people involved in the case.

U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, who is presiding over the case, ordered Trump’s defense to respond to the government request by 5 p.m. Monday, including any changes they propose.

In response, the Trump campaign issued a statement early Saturday saying the social media post cited by the government was aimed at the former president’s political critics in the Republican Party.

“The Truth post cited is the definition of political speech, and was in response to the RINO, China-loving, dishonest special interest groups and Super PACs,” the statement said, referring to Club for Growth and the politically active and deep-pocketed network funded by the billionaire industrialist Charles Koch.

Trump has previously posted disparaging comments on social media about the federal investigations into him and about Smith, the prosecutor leading those cases. Trump has called Smith “deranged” and a “psycho” and said he “looks like a crackhead.”

Devlin Barrett and Spencer S. Hsu contributed to this report.

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