“An Argument That Would Reject Elementary Mathematics”

Lawyers for former President Donald Trump attacked special counsel Jack Smith’s defense of Trump’s gag order in a brief gag Friday, saying his argument would “defy first-grade math.”

Trump’s lawyers wrote that the defense raised by special counsel Jack Smith’s office “fails at every step” and violates “a long list of the most basic doctrines of the First Amendment.” Its 37-page Friday filing accuses prosecutors of relying on “media reports as a substitute for evidence,” which they say highlights the “glaring evidentiary gaps in their case.”

“The Gag Order installs a single federal judge as a barrier between the leading presidential candidate, President Donald J. Trump, and all Americans across the country,” his lawyers wrote. “The district court had no business meddling in the presidential election, just weeks before the Iowa caucuses. The First Amendment does not allow the district court to micromanage President Trump’s core political speech, or dictate which speech is sufficiently “general” and which speech is too “targeted” for the court’s liking.”

His lawyers criticized prosecutors’ reliance on “bare speculation” in their only evidence supporting the claim that his statements would lead to threats, harassment and efforts to intimidate witnesses and parties in the case .

in the prosecutors brief defending the order, they pointed to an Aug. 4 Social Truth post in which Trump said, “IF IT GOES FOR ME, I’LL COME AFTER YOU!” noting that an individual threatened Judge Tanya Chutkan the day after Trump’s post. Trump’s lawyers said Friday that the statement had nothing to do with the judge, and Trump did not directly criticize Chutkan until after the incident.

“Other than that, the prosecution does not identify any instances of alleged threats, harassment or intimidation of any prosecutors, witnesses or court personnel in this case, despite months of public comment on the case by President Trump,” they wrote.

His arguments suffer from “other yawning logical gaps,” the presentation continues.

“The prosecution relies heavily on a parallel gag order filed in New York court, which has now been stayed pending appeal,” Trump’s lawyers wrote. reference a New York appeals judge of the decision to temporarily stay the order in his civil fraud case. “The prosecution claims that silencing a political candidate with more than 100 million followers imposes an ‘equal’ injury as silencing a single speaker, an argument that would defy first grade mathematics.”

The DC Circuit Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear oral arguments in Trump’s appeal of the order on Monday. The three-judge panel that will hear the arguments includes Judges Patricia Millett and Cornelia Pillard, appointed by Obama, and Judge Bradley Garcia, appointed by Biden.

Groups of all political stripes have voiced their opposition to the gag order, from the liberal American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) aa coalition of 18 Republican attorneys general.

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