Leroy N. Soetoro
2023-10-05 01:00:02 UTC
https://nypost.com/2023/08/06/trump-prosecutor-jack-smith-would-rip-up-
americans-right-to-free-speech/
Day by day, the Biden administration is robbing your right to speak
freely.
This time, Team Biden wants to gag defendants from criticizing government
prosecutors.
Thats how courts are run in countries like Pakistan, Russia and North
Korea.
Anyone can fall into the governments crosshairs.
Imagine being prosecuted and being unable to speak out, proclaim your
innocence and show why the case against you is unfair.
Special counsel Jack Smith asked the court Friday for an order to gag
Donald Trump from discussing the evidence the government plans to use
against him or even criticizing the governments lawyers.
Prosecutors are required to show the defendant all evidence that will be
presented in the trial, but Smith is refusing to do so until Trump is
gagged.
The judge, Tanya Chutkan, gave Trumps lawyers only until 5 p.m. Monday to
respond to this request, asking them to red line any objections to the
order.
Thats alarming. The entire request is contrary to a defendants rights to
free speech and a public, impartial trial.
No one questions that Trump is a loudmouth.
On Saturday night at a GOP dinner in South Carolina, the former president
told the crowd that Smith is a deranged, sick person.
Trumps entitled to his opinion. After all, Smiths calling him a
criminal.
If the government were trying to lock you up for the rest of your life,
youd have a lot to say too.
Trying to muzzle any defendant goes contrary to what the Bill of Rights
and two centuries of American law stand for: putting the rights of the
defendant ahead of any other considerations.
In 1986, the Supreme Court ruled in Press-Enterprise Co. v. Superior Court
of California that the Constitution guarantees not only that trials are
public but also that pre-trial proceedings are open to the public, except
in the rare circumstance nondisclosure is needed to protect the defendant.
One of those rare circumstances is the upcoming trial of accused killer
Bryan Kohberger.
The court has limited what attorneys and the families of the victims can
say to the press to increase the likelihood that an impartial jury can be
selected.
That gag order is all about protecting the defendant.
Smith is trying to do the opposite gag the defendant to protect the
governments case. And the governments pre-trial public-relations
campaign.
Thats an outrage against voters.
Trump is running for president, and if the trial doesnt take place before
the election and Trump is muzzled, the public gets only one side of the
story. The prosecutions version.
Smith is already demagoguing, telling the public hes holding Trump
accountable for the rioting at the Capitol Jan. 6, when in fact the
indictment has nothing to do with the violence at the Capitol that day.
Whether in court or in the court of public opinion, both sides have to be
heard to get at the truth.
Thats the American way.
Its especially vital with a prosecutor as sneaky and unprincipled as
Smith.
Again and again, Smith has targeted politicians, stretching and twisting
the meaning of the law to bring charges against them and then failing to
make the charges stick.
He indicted former Democratic presidential aspirant John Edwards in 2011
for taking illegal campaign contributions, but a jury didnt buy it.
Smith prosecuted Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) on public corruption charges,
but that case ended in 2017 in a mistrial too.
The overzealous prosecutor also went after former Virginia Republican Gov.
Bob McDonnell. Smith won a conviction, but in 2016, it was overturned by a
unanimous US Supreme Court, which chastised Smith for the Governments
boundless interpretation of the federal bribery statute.
The justices warned the nation about the uncontrolled power of criminal
prosecutors.
Amen.
Attorney General Merrick Garland should have considered Smiths shameful
record before appointing him special counsel to investigate possible
wrongdoing by former President Trump.
But then again, Garland likely wanted a hit man.
Tell Judge Chutkan to deny Smiths un-American gag order.
The defendant and the public deserve a fair trial. Thats what the US
Constitution guarantees.
Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant governor of New York.
Twitter: @Betsy_McCaughey
--
We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.
Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.
No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.
Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.
President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.
americans-right-to-free-speech/
Day by day, the Biden administration is robbing your right to speak
freely.
This time, Team Biden wants to gag defendants from criticizing government
prosecutors.
Thats how courts are run in countries like Pakistan, Russia and North
Korea.
Anyone can fall into the governments crosshairs.
Imagine being prosecuted and being unable to speak out, proclaim your
innocence and show why the case against you is unfair.
Special counsel Jack Smith asked the court Friday for an order to gag
Donald Trump from discussing the evidence the government plans to use
against him or even criticizing the governments lawyers.
Prosecutors are required to show the defendant all evidence that will be
presented in the trial, but Smith is refusing to do so until Trump is
gagged.
The judge, Tanya Chutkan, gave Trumps lawyers only until 5 p.m. Monday to
respond to this request, asking them to red line any objections to the
order.
Thats alarming. The entire request is contrary to a defendants rights to
free speech and a public, impartial trial.
No one questions that Trump is a loudmouth.
On Saturday night at a GOP dinner in South Carolina, the former president
told the crowd that Smith is a deranged, sick person.
Trumps entitled to his opinion. After all, Smiths calling him a
criminal.
If the government were trying to lock you up for the rest of your life,
youd have a lot to say too.
Trying to muzzle any defendant goes contrary to what the Bill of Rights
and two centuries of American law stand for: putting the rights of the
defendant ahead of any other considerations.
In 1986, the Supreme Court ruled in Press-Enterprise Co. v. Superior Court
of California that the Constitution guarantees not only that trials are
public but also that pre-trial proceedings are open to the public, except
in the rare circumstance nondisclosure is needed to protect the defendant.
One of those rare circumstances is the upcoming trial of accused killer
Bryan Kohberger.
The court has limited what attorneys and the families of the victims can
say to the press to increase the likelihood that an impartial jury can be
selected.
That gag order is all about protecting the defendant.
Smith is trying to do the opposite gag the defendant to protect the
governments case. And the governments pre-trial public-relations
campaign.
Thats an outrage against voters.
Trump is running for president, and if the trial doesnt take place before
the election and Trump is muzzled, the public gets only one side of the
story. The prosecutions version.
Smith is already demagoguing, telling the public hes holding Trump
accountable for the rioting at the Capitol Jan. 6, when in fact the
indictment has nothing to do with the violence at the Capitol that day.
Whether in court or in the court of public opinion, both sides have to be
heard to get at the truth.
Thats the American way.
Its especially vital with a prosecutor as sneaky and unprincipled as
Smith.
Again and again, Smith has targeted politicians, stretching and twisting
the meaning of the law to bring charges against them and then failing to
make the charges stick.
He indicted former Democratic presidential aspirant John Edwards in 2011
for taking illegal campaign contributions, but a jury didnt buy it.
Smith prosecuted Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) on public corruption charges,
but that case ended in 2017 in a mistrial too.
The overzealous prosecutor also went after former Virginia Republican Gov.
Bob McDonnell. Smith won a conviction, but in 2016, it was overturned by a
unanimous US Supreme Court, which chastised Smith for the Governments
boundless interpretation of the federal bribery statute.
The justices warned the nation about the uncontrolled power of criminal
prosecutors.
Amen.
Attorney General Merrick Garland should have considered Smiths shameful
record before appointing him special counsel to investigate possible
wrongdoing by former President Trump.
But then again, Garland likely wanted a hit man.
Tell Judge Chutkan to deny Smiths un-American gag order.
The defendant and the public deserve a fair trial. Thats what the US
Constitution guarantees.
Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant governor of New York.
Twitter: @Betsy_McCaughey
--
We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.
Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.
No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.
Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.
President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.