Silencing Donald Trump

Some people lie because they can. Others lie because they cannot help themselves. Then, you have those who lie for gain-monetary gain, attention, you name it, and you’ll find one name at the top of that list: Donald Trump. Since Trump’s most recent and most egregious lie, Special Counsel Jack Smith wants to shut Trump’s mouth. In a campaign email, Trump claimed: “BREAKING FROM TRUMP: BIDEN’S DOJ WAS AUTHORIZED TO SHOOT ME! It’s just been revealed that Biden’s DOJ was authorized to use DEADLY FORCE for their DESPICABLE raid in Mar-a-Lago. You know they’re just itching to do the unthinkable. Joe Biden was locked & loaded ready to take me out & put my family in danger.” Trump knows this isn’t true, but he’s using words typically included in a warrant to his advantage. Sometimes, however, lies do have consequences, and let’s hope this is one of those times.

All of Trump’s flunkies jumped on the bandwagon, spreading the lie even further, including Marjorie Taylor Greene, Paul Gosar, and Elise Stefanik. One conservative X account shared the post, and it had over 800,000 views. Now, this lie is everywhere, and federal officers are in danger. This is all because Judge Aileen Cannon unsealed documents, one of which contained the FBI’s operational plan for Mar-a-Lago. The statement that includes deadly force is boilerplate for searches, and as NYT reported, the full statement says: “[D]eadly force is allowed only when necessary, that is, when the officer has a reasonable belief that the subject of such force poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to the officer or to another person.” Trump knows damned well this doesn’t apply to execution of the search warrant at Mar-a-Lago. He wasn’t even home. He is merely using it to rile up his supporters to threaten or do harm to federal officers.

Smith almost immediately filed a motion with Judge Cannon, asking for an order barring Trump from mischaracterizing facts that endanger law enforcement officers. As shown by the evidence, the exact same language was included in the search of Joe Biden’s home, even though he consented to the search. This is merely standard language. Trump’s followers don’t know that, and Trump is trying to use it as a tool to make them angry. Former FBI general counsel Andrew Weissman wrote on X: “Smart move by Smith as Judge Cannon won’t be likely to grant the gag order, will show her patent bias, and Smith can then appeal to the 11th Circuit,” at which point, he might have enough grounds to recuse her. Other legal experts agree according to Newsweek.

Will Cannon do the right thing? That is doubtful. Her rulings have blatantly favored Donald Trump and have no basis in law. There is evidence of what Smith says in his motions. Shortly after the search at Mar-a-Lago, Adam Bies threatened to kill “as many FBI agents as possible.” There is no doubt that this could happen again, and the next time, the killer may be successful.