Donald Trump’s former adviser, Stephen Miller, and representatives from America First Legal have hit a snag as Judge Aileen Cannon has denied their request to challenge a potential gag order against Trump in his Mar-a-Lago case involving classified documents belonging to the country. According to the report, Judge Cannon signed a paperless order in June to deny Trump the right to challenge the gag order after a brief was submitted to the court.
This brief was submitted by the Southern District of Florida by America First Legal (AFL) and signed by Stephen Miller, the AFL President, and other Republicans. It is important to note that Miller is Trump’s former senior adviser. In addition, Matthew Whitaker, the former U.S. Acting Attorney General also signed this brief before it was submitted to Judge Cannon.
The aim of this brief was to defend Trump’s “constitutionally protected right to free speech” and also stop Special Counsel Jack Smith from getting a gag order, which they believe is “unlawful.” Back in June, the ex-president was indicted on 40 federal charges by Smith.
According to court documents, he allegedly retained classified documents that belonged to the country after he left the White House in 2021. This is an illegal thing to do, and the former president was well aware of it. Furthermore, he allegedly obstructed government officials when they tried to retrieve these documents from him. In August 2022, the FBI raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, which is located in Palm Beach, Florida, where they allegedly retrieved these highly classified documents in his bedroom.
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His indictment came shortly afterward. However, Trump has repeatedly claimed not to be guilty of this crime and has also said that the case is politically motivated. As Trump is the presidential candidate for the GOP, he believes that this case is simply a way to pull him out of the presidential race. Furthermore, the AFL and Miller have argued that a gag order that will bar Trump from speaking about any case that affects him either politically or personally will be detrimental to his campaign.
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This prompted them to write the brief to the court, which has now been denied by Judge Cannon. According to the brief that was filed, the government did not have enough evidence that meet the standard of a gag order before his trial. Therefore, the filing said that restraining Trump’s speech was unwarranted.
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As this is just months before the presidential election, they believe it would be tricking and unfair to place a gag order on him. However, the judge does not seem to agree has he denied them the right to challenge the gag order. This may be a result of the fact that many people have criticized Judge Cannon for being too “favorable” and “nice” toward Trump and his legal counsel.
Many people believe that his behavior toward Smith was harsher and showed some sort of favoritism. Therefore, rejecting a brief signed by 24 Republican attorneys general was a shocking decision.
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