Donald Trump’s legal team turned to the First Amendment in combating a Justice Department request to limit what evidence he can share and discuss with the public, parroting the former president’s claims the protective order takes aim at his candidacy.

Monday’s filing echoes one of Trump’s defenses to the broader Jan. 6 case, arguing he should only be limited from sharing “sensitive” evidence in the case with the public, while pushing for “volunteer attorneys” to have access to the full range of discovery in the case.

The protective order, a routine request from prosecutors, structures how to handle evidence in the case, and was requested by DOJ just hours after Trump made an incendiary comment on social media.

“In a trial about First Amendment rights, the government seeks to restrict First Amendment rights,” Trump’s attorney wrote in the filing, calling DOJ’s request too broad.

“Worse, it does so against its administration’s primary political opponent.”

Trump was warned in his Thursday arraignment about making any improper contact with witnesses in the case.

But in the Friday request from the prosecution, they noted Trump “has previously issued public statements on social media regarding witnesses, judges, attorneys and others associated with legal matters pending against him.”

It then included a screenshot of Trump’s message just hours earlier, one his campaign would later say was not directed at any one individual.

“IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!” Trump wrote.

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