(OurNationNews.com) – Former president Donald Trump’s “hush money” in Manhattan concluded and he was found guilty on 34 accounts. While the legal team of the former chief executive handling his classified documents case were handed a small victory after the presiding judge denied “without prejudice” the prosecution’s motion for a gag order against Trump.
In a brief explanation of her decision, Judge Aileen Cannon even scored the prosecution team headed by Special Counsel Jack Smith, saying that they were meant to discuss the possibility of a gag order with the defense before filing a motion with the court. Cannon called the prosecution’s supposed conferral with the defense “wholly lacking in substance and professional courtesy.”
As such, Judge Cannon wrote in her decision, the prosecution’s failure to follow “basic requirements” merited an outright denial of their motion seeking a gag order against the former president.
“It should go without saying,” the presiding judge wrote, “that meaningful conferral is not a perfunctory exercise.”
However, Judge Cannon did not completely rule out the prospect of a gag order against Trump in the future. She said that once the prosecution informs Trump’s team of the motion and hold a discussion about the motion sufficiently, Smith’s team can re-file a motion for a gag order again.
For its part, the prosecution was concerned that Trump’s inflammatory claims about FBI agents’ supposed behavior during the raid on his Mar-a-Lago luxury resort in Florida could potentially increase the safety risks faced by law enforcement.
In the prosecution’s motion, Smith accused the former commander-in-chief of making “intentionally false and inflammatory statements” against the FBI. One such claim made by Trump was that FBI agents who raided his Florida resort sported full combat gear, supposedly making him fear for his life.
However, the FBI has clarified that the raid followed standard operating procedure, noting that their agents used the same approach and the same gear when they raided President Joe Biden’s officers, also in a search for classified documents in his possession.
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