George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley accused special counsel Jack Smith of lacking “restraint” by seeking a gag order against former President Donald Trump.
Smith initially requested a gag order on May 24 after Trump criticized the FBI being authorized to use “deadly force” during the August 8, 2022 raid on Mar-a-Lago, which the FBI said was “standard protocol.” Turley said that the request was part of a pattern of pushing “outside the navigational beacon.”
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Jonathan Turley Rips Jack Smith For ‘Serious Problem Of Restraint’ On Trump Gag Order Request pic.twitter.com/6oDNpye43G
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“This is the problem I personally believe that Jack Smith has grappled with his whole career and that is he has a serious problem of restraint and, you know, he follows Oscar Wilde’s rule that nothing succeeds like excess,” Turley told “Fox and Friends” host Lawrence Jones. “And he goes to the limit, he was reversed by the Supreme Court unanimously in one case and this is another example.”
“He’s asking to gag the leading presidential candidate in an election year from criticizing his own department,” Turley continued. “Now, that is so far afield from what the purpose of a gag order is, it’s so outside the navigational beacons, it’s really disturbing and I don’t blame Smith, I blame Attorney General Garland.”
United States District Judge Aileen Cannon of the Southern District of Florida denied Smith’s original request on May 28, but the special counsel made a second request for a gag order May 31, CNN reported. Turley said that Garland could address Smith’s prosecutorial conduct with a phone call.
“This is when you pick up the phone and say, ‘Listen, Jack, that we don’t do that, we don’t gag people to keep them from criticizing us,” Turley said. “That’s not the point here.”
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