When being arraigned for a third time last week, Donald Trump vowed not to post threatening messages about his case, which he’s done before. It didn’t take long for him to break his promise. On Friday the former president dropped an all-caps post vowing revenge upon those who “go after me.” It didn’t take long for Special counsel Jack Smith, who gifted Trump with his third indictment, to divine that he was referring to his case and take action. And it didn’t take long after that for the judge assigned it to do the same.
As per Newsweek, on Saturday Judge Tanya Chutkan — the Obama-appointed, Jan. 6 rioter-hating judge randomly assigned his latest case — filed a motion ordering the Trump team to respond to Smith’s call for a protective order, which would limit the amount of information Trump is allowed to publicly share about the case.
UPDATE: Judge Chutkan has asked for Trump to respond to the special counsel’s protective order request by 5pm Monday. https://t.co/fODrjdibte pic.twitter.com/87BHtVSNlT
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) August 5, 2023
It is hereby ORDERED that by 5:00 PM on August 7, 2023, Defendant shall file a response to the government’s 10 Motion for Protective Order, stating Defendant’s position on the Motion,” read Chutkan’s filing.
Trump then did what he does best: He delayed. His lawyers responded by asking that they move the due date from Monday to Thursday, August 10th, “to ensure counsel has adequate time to prepare a fulsome response.”
The inciting Truth Social post found the ex-president writing, “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!”
After the post was widely read as being about Jack Smith and any other prosecutors looking to prosecute him, Trump’s campaign issued a statement, claiming his vague threats were about completely different people.
“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, like the ones funded by the Koch brothers and the Club for No Growth,” read the Trump campaign’s statement.
After all, who wouldn’t assume that Trump, mere days after being arraigned a third time, was really worked up into an all-caps frenzy by special interest groups. It all makes sense.
In any case, by now Trump’s latest batch of lawyers ought to have realized why he’s lost so, so many others. Soon enough they might have to deal with his BS while he’s running for president from prison.
(Via Newsweek)