Everything is wrong with the protective order the DOJ is seeking against Trump
On August 4, Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social an all-caps message: “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU.” The DOJ’s response is both dangerous and illuminating, especially when you consider that the entire case is an attack on Donald Trump’s right to free speech.
Following Trump’s Truth message, the response across the political spectrum was predictable. Trump supporters interpreted the message to mean that, to the extent he is the victim of illegitimate lawfare when he regains the White House, he will begin prosecuting Democrats for their open legal violations. In other words, what he said was political speech, which is absolutely protected under the First Amendment.
President Trump says, “If you go after me, I’m coming after you!” BOOM! рџ’Ґ That’s not a threat, its a promise!
— RighteousвљЎпёЏCrusader (@Craftmastah) August 4, 2023
Lets not forget, this is the second Democrat administration who weaponized the Justice Department against Donald Trump — HE’S HAD IT! And who can blame him? #GOTRUMP рџ‘ЉрџЏЅ pic.twitter.com/jBtQAEiEhu
Liberal Democrats are crying about Trumps statement of “If you go after me, I’m coming after you” yet they remained silent about these folks and their statements. They were silent about the summer of love looting, riots and destruction as well. Liberal Democrats are hypocrites. pic.twitter.com/MhjRXnGCnD
— рџЊёр–Ўјр“‚‚р“ЏІLomasi р–Ўјр“‚‚р“ЏІ рџЊё (@Lomasi62) August 5, 2023
Meanwhile, members of both the Uniparty and the radical left clutched their pearls at the horror of seeing his intemperate response to the latest in the government’s official and unofficial attacks on him over the last seven years:
Trump has issued his latest threat: “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU.”...Trump has lost it. This threatens our democracy, our rule of law and says clearly that he will weaponize the Justice Department if he is elected. America needs leadership with a spirit of grace.
— Gov. Asa Hutchinson (@AsaHutchinson) August 6, 2023
JUST 24 HOURS after judge warns him he can’t intimidate, retaliate, or threaten anyone Trump does all three
— Keith OlbermannвЊљпёЏ (@KeithOlbermann) August 5, 2023
“IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!” he posts.
Counsel HAS notified the judge. Trump must be detained NOW
COUNTDOWN WEEKEND PODCAST:https://t.co/OH3iCxCxo2 pic.twitter.com/kDqvLgy02l
(Keith Olbermann, by the way, reposted that message or some variation thereof hourly, just to be sure everyone understood what he had to say. In my humble and non-medical estimation, the poor man is not well.)
The DOJ, of course, didn’t respond with mere commentary. Instead, it sought to silence Trump:
President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice is seeking to silence former President Donald Trump because of his Truth Social post in which Trump stated, “If you go after me, I’m coming for you!”
The DOJ appointed Special Counsel Jack Smith argued on Friday that Trump needs to have a strict court order to silence him about court proceedings.
The motion for a protective order is a sneaky effort to extort Trump into silence. What it says is that it has all sorts of evidence that Trump needs to have for his defense against the charges in the indictment against him, but that the DOJ won’t produce it unless Trump is gagged about the case. When you consider that the entire case is a blatant attack on Trump’s First Amendment rights, the effort to muzzle him adds insult to injury…and reflects the left’s terrible fear of Trump’s words.
According to the motion, the DOJ is desperate to give Trump the material he needs to prepare his defense. However, the motion claims that the problem is that Trump insists on speaking about the case and the people involved:
The implication is that Trump, like some mafia don, is ordering hits on witnesses. Of course, all the Democrats involved in this case understand that Trump’s speech is intended to show that the case is corrupt.
For example, the judge, Tanya Chutkan, an Obama appointee, worked for Boies Schiller Flexner, a Democrat-party-connected firm. This is the same firm for which Hunter Biden held an “of counsel” position in 2014 when Joe Biden was Vice President that once listed Hunter Biden as a former counsel. She was the judge who forced Trump to produce records to the House’s kangaroo January 6 committee, and she is the hangingist hanging judge when it comes to January 6 defendants. You can probably sense the bad smell wafting off your computer as you read these words.
Trump has openly shown his distrust for Chutkan’s impartiality:
The attorneys on the case are equally biased, which, when you’re dealing with the DOJ, is itself a form of corruption. While attorneys in private cases or defense counsel are expected to have biases, the government is supposed to stand for justice, not partisanship. Nevertheless, the DOJ justices, through their actions, appear to be Democrat hacks whose sense of right and wrong is dictated not by the law, but by partisan interests:
I know you'll be shocked to hear this.
— Julie Kelly рџ‡єрџ‡ё (@julie_kelly2) August 5, 2023
The 2 DOJ lawyers handling the case against Trump for J6 and attempts to "overturn" 2020 election are the same DOJ lawyers who declined to prosecute Andy McCabe for lying under oath--never mind his own role in 2016 election interference: pic.twitter.com/NHtTmBun8e
Molly Gaston is the DOJ lawyer who went crying to Judge Chutkan last night, claiming Trump's Truth Social post was a lowkey threat and demanding the judge withhold discovery from Trump until she signs a protective order in the case.
— Julie Kelly рџ‡єрџ‡ё (@julie_kelly2) August 5, 2023
Thugs. pic.twitter.com/vCmTfnzdN9
Gaston and Cooney are also the DOJ tag team on the contempt of Congress case against Steve Bannon. They asked for 6 months in jail after Bannon convicted by DC jury on 2 counts and pay a $200,000 fine: pic.twitter.com/2mNT7HlN99
— Julie Kelly рџ‡єрџ‡ё (@julie_kelly2) August 5, 2023
Jack Smith is no better. Famously, he went after former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, a Democrat, only to get reversed by a unanimous Supreme Court. However, Smith had the last laugh because he destroyed McDonnell’s political career. Clearly, he intends to do the same here to Donald Trump. Whatever else Smith is, he’s loyal to the Democrat party, as are the people assisting him.
Trump has called them out, just as he has called out the judge:
What one can divine from all this is that these DOJ attorneys fully understand that, when Trump says that he’s coming after them, this is not the equivalent of his placing a horse head in their beds. Instead, he means that he will subject them to legal processes.
Trump made a terrible mistake when he didn’t direct his DOJ to prosecute Hillary Clinton, who had openly violated national security laws. Her conviction would have been a slam dunk, for she had no defense for her actions. It would also have announced that (a) Republicans are not pushovers and (b) all political figures must answer for actual crimes, as opposed to the Lavrentiy Beria-style attacks on Trump and other Democrats (“Show me the man, and I’ll show you the crime.”)
Thinking about it that way, it’s no wonder the Biden administration is so desperate to silence Trump and keep him from office. From Biden on down (heck, maybe from Obama on down), they’ve been able to run roughshod over the law for a long, long time.
Image: Trump (edited) by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.