Prosecutors ask judge for protective order on evidence after Trump post appears to promise revenge

The U.S. Justice Department has asked a federal judge overseeing the criminal case againstDonald Trump in Washington to step in after the former presidentreleased a post online that appeared to promise revenge on anyone who goes after him.

Prosecutors on Friday requested that U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan issue a protective order concerning evidence in the case, a day after Trump pleaded not guilty to charges of trying to overturn his 2020 election loss and block the peaceful transition of power.

The order, different from a "gag order," would limit what information Trump and his legal team could share publicly about the case brought by special counsel Jack Smith.

Chutkan on Saturday gave Trump's legal team until 5 p.m. Monday to respond to the government's request.

Trump's legal team, which has indicated he would look to slow the case down despite prosecutors' pledge of a speedy trial, then filed a request to extend the response deadline to Thursday and hold a hearing on the matter.

On Sunday, Trump lawyer John Lauro said a protective order would "deny all Americans the opportunity tolearn non-sensitive information about what the case involves ina political season" as Trump runs for president again in 2024.

The proposed order would also "prevent the press fromobtaining exculpatory and material information that might be
relevant to these proceedings," he told Fox News Sunday.

Such protective orders are common in criminal cases, but prosecutors said it's "particularly important in this case" because Trump has posted on social media about "witnesses, judges, attorneys, and others associated with legal matters pending against him."

Prosecutors pointed specifically to Trump's post on his Truth Social platform from earlier Friday in which hewrote, in all capital letters, "If you go after me, I'm coming after you!"

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Prosecutors said they are ready to hand over a "substantial" amount of evidence "much of which includes sensitive and confidential information" to Trump's legal team.

They told the judge that if Trump were to begin posting about grand jury transcripts or other evidence provided by the Justice Department, it could have a "harmful chilling effect on witnesses or adversely affect the fair administration of justice in this case."

The prosecutors' proposed protective order seeks to prevent Trump and his lawyers from disclosing materials provided by the government to anyone other than people on his legal team, possible witnesses, the witnesses' lawyers or others approved by the court.

It would put stricter limits on "sensitive materials," which would include grand jury witness testimony and materials obtained through sealed search warrants.

Chutkan, a former assistant public defender nominated to the bench by Barack Obama, U.S. president at the time, has been one of the toughest punishers of rioters who stormed the Capitol in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, fuelled by Trump's claims of a stolen election.

The indictmentunsealed this past week accuses Republican Trump of brazenly conspiring with allies to spread falsehoods and concoct schemes intended to overturn his election loss to Democrat Joe Biden as his legal challenges floundered in court.

The indictment chronicles how Trump and his allies, in what Smith described as an attack on a "bedrock function of the U.S. government," repeatedly lied about the results in the two months after he lost the election and pressured his vice-president, Mike Pence, and state election officials to take action to help him cling to power.

Trump faces charges including conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and conspiracy to obstruct Congress' certification of Biden's electoral victory.

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On Sunday, Lauroarguedany actions the former president tookafter his 2020 re-election loss were "aspirational asks."

"Every single thing that president Trump is beingprosecuted for involved aspirational asks ssking statelegislatures, asking state governors, asking state electoralofficials to do the right thing. In fact, even asking vice-president Pence was protected by free speech," Lauro told FoxNews.

Protective order previously issued in documents case

It's the third criminal case brought this year againstthe early front-runner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary. But it's the first case to try to hold Trump responsible for his efforts to remain in power during the chaotic weeks between his election loss and the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks on the U.S. Capitol.

Smith has also charged Trump in Florida Federal Court with illegally hoarding classified documents at hisMar-a-Lago estate and with thwarting government efforts to get them back.

The magistrate judge in that case agreed to a protective order in June that prohibits Trump and his legal team from publicly disclosing evidence turned over to them by prosecutors without prior approval. Prosecutors are seeking another protective order in that case with more rules about the defence team's handling of classified evidence.

Smith has said prosecutors will seek a "speedy trial" against Trump in the election case. Chutkan has ordered the government to file a brief by Thursday proposing a trial date. The first court hearing in front of Chutkan is scheduled for Aug. 28.

Trump is already scheduled to stand trial in March in the New York case stemming from hush-money payments allegedly made during the 2016 campaign and in May in the classified documents case.