Brian Snyder/Reuters
The Department of Justice is trying to bolster its case for keeping a federal gag order on Donald Trump in the run-up to his election fraud trial in Washington, and prosecutors just got an extra helping of evidence from New York.
Three judges on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals reconsidering that gag order this week asked for fresh examples of Trump’s threatening behavior, now that the former president’s defense lawyers are trying to carve out First Amendment exceptions. So Thursday afternoon, federal prosecutors pointed them to the heaping pile of hate that Trump has recently directed his MAGA battalion to dish out on the state judge currently presiding over the billionaire’s bank fraud trial.
Prosecutors have argued that giving the politician free reign to direct his simmering anger is a recipe for disaster. Cecil W. VanDevender, an attorney on Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team, directed their attention to a fiery list compiled on Tuesday by the New York captain in charge of protecting state judges.