“Trump Takes on Jack Smith: Challenge to Limit Access to Jan. 6 Case Documents

President Donald Trump is fighting against a request to impose a restrictive gag order on lawyers and witnesses involved with the related to the January 6 Capitol insurrection. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta is the judge presiding over the case. Jack Smith, the attorney for Jacob Chansley, the self-proclaimed “QAnon Shaman” accused of leading the insurrection, requested the gag order on Wednesday. The order would have severely limited press disclosures and recordings from the case to the public. Smith argued that the publicity was not in the best interest of Chansley’s case and could interfere with the potential jury pool. Trump said in a legal filing that the motion was “an attempt to muzzle the government and to prohibit it from participating with equal vigor in the public discourse regarding the events of January 6.” He continued to cite that such a motion is “contrary to the highly public nature of these proceedings and the interests of justice served by allowing public access to court proceedings.” Mehta has not yet made a ruling on the motion, and it was not immediately clear when he would do so. This development reflects the increased scrutiny that the Trump administration is under during this trial as lawmakers, pundits, and the public await answers as to who was involved and who should be held responsible for the insurrection. Trump has vehemently denied any involvement on his part, instead blaming mainstream media and tech companies for creating a culture of tension and violence. Ultimately, it will fall to Mehta whether or not to allow a gag order to impede the public’s access to information regarding the events leading up to and the events of January 6th.