Judge rejects gag order on Trump in Florida documents criminal case

A federal judge on Tuesday rejected a request by prosecutors to issue a gag order barring Donald Trump from making inflammatory comments about law enforcement, after his campaign falsely claimed the FBI had been authorized to assassinate him when it searched his Florida resort for classified U.S. documents.

Florida-based U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon rebuffed Special Counsel Jack Smith’s motion to modify the former president’s conditions of release as he awaits trial on charges of mishandling classified material. Smith had said Trump’s “false and inflammatory” comments about the FBI could subject the agency, as well as and trial witnesses, to threats, violence or harassment.