According to The Daily Beast, the Department of Justice is intensifying its efforts to maintain a federal gag order on Donald Trump as his election fraud trial in Washington approaches. Three judges on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, currently reviewing the gag order, requested fresh examples of Trump’s threatening behavior, especially since his defense lawyers are attempting to establish First Amendment exceptions. In response, federal prosecutors highlighted the recent surge of vitriol directed by Trump’s supporters towards the state judge overseeing his bank fraud trial.
Prosecutors argue that allowing Trump unchecked freedom to express his simmering anger poses a significant risk. Cecil W. VanDevender, an attorney on Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team, pointed to a compilation by Captain Charles Hollon, responsible for safeguarding state judges in New York. The list revealed that after Trump launched attacks on Justice Arthur F. Engoron and his law clerk, they received hundreds of threatening voicemails and harassing messages, totaling over 275 single-spaced pages.
The judge’s law clerk, Allison Greenfield, faced particularly severe harassment after Trump spread false claims about her, resulting in daily doxing and numerous calls, voicemails, and messages from Trump loyalists.
On Thanksgiving, federal prosecutors presented this evidence with a clear message: if Trump’s gag order is lifted, the intensity of threats will escalate. The lesson from New York is stark, showing that Trump’s followers act on his words. Court documents reveal recorded voicemails left by Trump supporters for the New York judge, with threats ranging from assassination to hunting down the judge and family.
“I mean, honestly, you should be assassinated. You should be killed,” said one.
“Trust me. Trust me when I say this. I will come for you. I don’t care. Ain’t nobody gonna stop me either,” said another.
One caller swore to “hunt down… you and your family,” warning that “for every action there’s a reaction.”
During a recent court hearing, federal appellate judges appeared hesitant to maintain restrictions on the former president, but the new evidence aims to persuade them otherwise. A parallel legal battle is unfolding in Manhattan, where the New York Attorney General is advocating for the reinstatement of four gag orders on Trump, which were recently lifted by an appellate judge.
