Our most recent book is titled Divided We Stand: The 2020 Elections and American Politics. Among other things, it discusses the state of the parties. The state of the GOP is not good. Some Republican leaders -- and a measurable number of rank-and-file voters -- are open to violent rebellion, coups, and secession. Trump has accused the Biden Administration of trying to kill him.
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA WEST PALM BEACH DIVISION CASE NO. 23-80101-CR-CANNON(s) UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, v. DONALD J. TRUMP, WALTINE NAUTA, and CARLOS DE OLIVEIRA, Defendants. GOVERNMENT’S MOTION FOR MODIFICATION OF CONDITIONS OF RELEASE
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.648653/gov.uscourts.flsd.648653.581.0.pdf
The Government moves to modify defendant Donald J. Trump’s conditions of release, to make clear that he may not make statements that pose a significant, imminent, and foreseeable danger to law enforcement agents participating in the investigation and prosecution of this case.1 The Government’s request is necessary because of several intentionally false and inflammatory statements recently made by Trump that distort the circumstances under which the Federal Bureau of Investigation planned and executed the search warrant at Mar-a-Lago. Those statements create a grossly misleading impression about the intentions and conduct of federal law enforcement agents—falsely suggesting that they were complicit in a plot to assassinate him—and expose those agents, some of whom will be witnesses at trial, to the risk of threats, violence, and harassment. The Court has an “independent obligation to protect the integrity of this judicial proceeding,” ECF No. 101, and should take steps immediately to halt this dangerous campaign to smear law enforcement.
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Those deceptive and inflammatory assertions irresponsibly put a target on the backs of the FBI agents involved in this case, as Trump well knows. Indeed, Trump “himself recognizes the power of his words and their effect on his audience, agreeing that his supporters ‘listen to [him] like no one else.’” United States v. Trump, 88 F.4th 990, 1012 (D.C. Cir. 2023) (quoting Transcript of CNN's Town Hall with Former President Donald Trump, CNN (May 11, 2023)). And his “documented pattern of speech and its demonstrated real-time, real-world consequences,” id., have often posed significant, imminent,and foreseeable threats to witnesses, particularly where, as here, they include deceptive and inflammatory claims. See id. at 1010-12 (collecting examples of Trump’s inflammatory statements and resulting threats). Those risks have justified restrictions on Trump's extrajudicial speech in other proceedings precisely to prevent threats, harassment, and other harms that undermine judicial proceedings. See id.at 1010-19. Indeed, an armed attack on an FBI office in Cincinnati, Ohio, was carried out by one of his supporters in the wake of Trump’s Truth Social statements inflaming his supporters regarding the search of Mar-a-Lago.3
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1 The Government has contacted counsel for defendant Trump, who stated that they object to the Motion and the timing of the conferral on a holiday weekend; it is their position that the Government has not provided an opportunity for meaningful conferral. They do not believe that there is any imminent danger, and asked to meet and confer next Monday. However, within just the last few hours, Trump has continued to issue false statements smearing and endangering the agents who executed the search. See https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump (“reTruthing” statement claiming that the FBI was authorized to use “‘Lethal Force’ on Trump or anyone at MAL – WHILE the FBI/DOJ plants evidence to frame Trump!!!”).
3 See FBI Cincinnati Statement, August 11, 2022, available at https://www.fbi.gov/contactus/field-offices/cincinnati/news/press-releases/fbi-cincinnati-statement-081122; see also Meryl Kornfield, Spencer S. Hsu, & James Bikales, Gunman killed after trying to breach FBI office in Ohio, authorities say, Wash. Post, Aug. 11, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/11/fbi-building-breach-armed/; Paul P. Murphy, Josh Campbell, & Brynn Gingras, Account bearing Ohio FBI standoff suspect’s name encouraged violence against the agency in posts on Trump social media platform, CNN, Aug. 12, 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/11/us/ricky-shiffer-purported-social-mediaposts/index.html
