Jack Smith really doesn’t know when to quit, does he? Special Counsel Jack Smith was just shut down once again by a federal judge as he was attempting to implicate another Republican in his investigation into the January 6, 2021, US Capitol riot.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that Smith cannot access phone records of Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.). This ruling overturned a decision by U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell, which would have allowed Smith to obtain data from Perry’s communications with colleagues and Trump administration officials.
The court ruled against allowing access to these records because doing so would breach Perry’s immunity under what is known as the Constitution’s “speech and debate” clause, which protects members of Congress from being drawn into legal proceedings while engaging in their official duties as elected representatives.
Jack Smith’s team recently requested a limited gag order be placed on former President Donald Trump due to his “prejudicial public statements” made against witnesses, prosecutors, and others involved in this investigation since their initial request for a gag order three weeks ago according to The New York Times reports.
However, prosecutors did not consider former Vice President Mike Pence as both a potential witness and opponent for Republican presidential nomination when making this argument despite Trump insinuating that Pence should be executed for his part in all this.
This is something no other criminal defendant would ever be permitted for verbalizing without consequence according to prosecutor Molly Gaston’s statement on this issue during the hearing before U.S District Judge Tanya S Chutkan who has yet rule on this request from three weeks ago despite its implications regarding First Amendment rights versus national security considerations.
If such an order were issued it could set precedence regarding how far such orders can extend beyond those directly implicated in criminal cases but also those whose words have been deemed potentially dangerous or damaging by authorities regardless of any direct involvement they may have had.
