Former President Donald Trump lashed out Monday about a protective order special counsel Jack Smith proposed last week, rejecting the idea that he be bound to one in the case against him related to the 2020 election.
Trump proposed in a statement on his social media platform Truth Social that Smith, instead, follow a protective order himself because prosecutors were "illegally 'leaking' all over the place," he said.
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Prosecutors on Friday night had filed a proposed protective order, which would govern the way discovery is managed in cases said to involve certain non-public information. They said in the proposal that Trump's case involved a "substantial amount of discovery," much of which was "sensitive and confidential."
They backed up their argument by pointing to a Truth Social statement Trump had written that day in all capital letters: "If you go after me, I'm coming after you!"
The prosecutors argued they needed the protective order because the former president was a risk. He might share any discovery he and his defense team received, which "could have a harmful chilling effect on witnesses or adversely affect the fair administration of justice in this case," they wrote.
Trump, who pleaded not guilty last week to all four felonies he faces in the case of allegedly conspiring to overturn the 2020 election, said on Monday that a protective order would "impinge upon my right to FREE SPEECH."
He said through a statement released by his campaign on Friday that the Truth Social post in question was the "definition of political speech."
He indicated that he was not directing it at the witnesses in the case, which would violate the terms of his pretrial release, but rather at 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.”
U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan ordered Trump to respond to Smith's proposed protective order by Monday at 5 p.m. Trump's attorneys requested a three-day extension, but Chutkan denied that and maintained the Monday deadline.
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Hours earlier on Monday, Trump said Smith was going before Chutkan "in an attempt" to strip him of his First Amendment rights. He also reiterated his position that the judge, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama and has overseen a number of cases related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, be recused.
Trump accused Smith of wrongly feeding media information about the case in that post as well, writing: "He, the DOJ, and his many Thug prosecutors, are illegally leaking, everything and anything, to the Fake News Media!!!"