Legal scholar Professor Jonathan Turley has blasted Special Counsel Jack Smith’s lack of “restraint” while pursuing politically motivated charges against President Donald Trump.
Turley, a professor at George Washington University Law School, was responding to the recent filing from Smith demanding that United States District Judge Aileen Cannon issue a “gag order” on Trump for the classified documents case in Florida.
Smith initially requested a gag order last month after Trump criticized the FBI’s authorization to use “deadly force” during the August 8, 2022 raid on his Mar-a-Lago home.
The FBI insists that the authorization, which was issued by Democrat President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ), was “standard protocol.”
Turley said that the request was part of a pattern of pushing “outside the navigational beacon.”
He notes that Smith frequently “goes to the limit” because he has a “serious problem of restraint.”
Speaking during an interview with “Fox and Friends” host Lawrence Jones, Turley said:
“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.
“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.”
Judge Cannon of the Southern District of Florida denied Smith’s original request on May 28.
However, the special counsel made a second request for a gag order on May 31, CNN reported.
Turley said that Garland could address Smith’s prosecutorial conduct with a simple 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.”
WATCH:
Jonathan Turley Rips Jack Smith For 'Serious Problem Of Restraint' On Trump Gag Order Request pic.twitter.com/6oDNpye43G
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) June 25, 2024
Meanwhile, Smith has continued to push for a gag order against Trump.
In his latest court filing, Smith argues that Trump and his supporters pose an “imminent threat,” as Slay News reported.
The special counsel claims that a threat was made by a “supporter of Trump” against FBI agents.
According to Smith, Trump must be “gagged” because his supporters pose an “imminent threat.”
“Statements that present a significant, imminent, and foreseeable danger to the law enforcement agents working on this case pose a significant and imminent threat to the integrity of these criminal proceedings,” Smith wrote in the filing.
