Read the Entire Depostion. Click here: Jack Smith Deposition
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Q: Did you — you sought gag orders in both the Florida case and the D.C. case. Is that correct?
Jack Smith: “We sought an order in the D.C. case under a rule — I think it’s 57.2 — and we did 25 that because Donald Trump was making statements that were endangering witnesses, intimidating witnesses, endangering members of my staff, endangering court staff. 2
As you might remember, in the — right around when the indictment was released, he issued a tweet saying: “If you come after me, I’ll come after you.”
He called — in a tweet, he called General Mark Milley a traitor and mentioned that what he’d done in olden times people would be put to death. As a result of the things he was saying, the judge in this case was put — received vile death threats. And with respect to D.C., both the district court and the court of appeals, a panel of judges, found that his actions were, in fact, causing what we said they caused.
They were causing witnesses to be intimidated and endangering people. And I believe it was the court of appeals also found that in addition to intimidating or chilling witnesses who existed, it would chill witnesses who had not yet come forward because they were afraid that they would be next.
So, yes, we did file that, and I make no apologies for that.”
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Q: “Can you tell us why it’s important for the American people to hear directly from you about your investigation, what you discovered, the process that you went through?”
JACK SMITH: “Well, as I said in the in the beginning of, I think, my opening remarks, there have been mischaracterizations about my work.
The–we did our work in the best traditions of the Department. And I know I keep coming back to this, but the attacks that — the mischaracterizations that most offend me are not prosecutors, but career FBI agents, support staff in the Department.
These are people who devoted their lives to public servants — to be public servants. They have not — they’re not self- promoters. They’re not people who like to go in front of the cameras and defend themselves. And I feel that they have been vilified in a way that I think is awful.”