Donald Trump news today: Campaign denies Truth Social threat after DoJ seeks protective order

Prosecutors in the Department of Justice asked the judge overseeing Donald Trump’s most recent federal indictment for a protective order after the ex-president issued a seemingly threatening statement on Truth Social.

The day after Mr Trump’s arraignment he took to his social media platform where he seemingly threatened revenge on those pursuing him.

“IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!” the ex-president wrote.

Hours after his post, federal prosecutors asked District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan to issue an order that would limit what discovery evidence Mr Trump and his legal can share publicly, citing Mr Trump’s love for ranting on social media.

Ex-White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham criticised her former boss’ posts on Truth Social, claiming they could be considered intimidating to the federal prosecution overseeing his 2020 election lies case.

“I just don’t understand does somebody have to get hurt before people take this kind of online intimidation seriously?” Ms Grisham said on CNN.

Mr Trump posted on Truth Social on Friday seemingly threatening those who come after him saying, “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!”

Prosecutors filed a request for a protective order so Mr Trump and his legal team are prevented from sharing too much information about the case.

“Legally, it doesn’t seem like it’s very smart but how is that not intimidation?” Ms Grisham asked. She called the ex-president’s speech “chilling”.

Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing Donald Trump’s federal case pertaining to his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election, ordered Mr Trump and his defence team to respond to prosecutors’ request for a protective order by Monday.

The request was filed on Friday night following a seemingly threatening Truth Social post from the ex-president.

Mr Trump’s team has until Monday to air any disagreements or create revisions to the protective order.

Less than 24 hours after he appeared to answer the latest federal indictment against him in a Washington DC courtroom, former president Donald Trump officially entered a plea of “not guilty” to the 40-count superseding indictment in a separate case against him in the Southern District of Florida.

Andrew Feinberg filed this report.

Donald Trump was equal turns defiant and self-pitying in his first major public event since being indicted earlier this week on charges he conspired to overturn the 2020 election and deprive voters of their civil rights in the process, claiming the charges against him were illegitimate but would help his campaign.

“It’s not going to make any impact. Every time they file an indictment, we go way up in the polls,” Mr Trump said Friday at the Alabama Republican Party’s 2023 summer meeting in Montgomery.

“We need one more indictment and this election is closed out, nobody has even a chance,” he added.

At the same time, Mr Trump hammered the special counsel overseeing the case, accusing “deranged Jack Smith” of pursuing “an outrageous criminalisation of political speech.”

“It’s not fair and it’s probably not legal what they’re doing,” Mr Trump argued. “They want to interfere in my campaign.”

Donald Trump’s campaign claimed a seemingly threatening Truth Social post that was cited by federal prosecutors in a protective order request was only ‘political speech’.

“The Truth post cited is the definition of political speech, and was in response to the RINO, China-loving, dishonest special interest groups and Super PACs, like the ones funded by the Koch brothers and the Club for No Growth,” the statement from Mr Trump’s campaign read.

Mr Trump’s campaign issued the statement just hours after federal prosecutors overseeing the latest indictment against the ex-president requested the judge limit the amount of information Mr Trump and his attorneys can share publicly.

The requested protective order cited a Truth Social post from Mr Trump in which he claimed, “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!!”

Nearly half of Republican supporters wouldn’t vote for Donald Trump in the upcoming election if the former president is convicted of a felony, according to a new poll.

Mr Trump, who is the front-runner in the Republican nomination contest for the November 2024 presidential election, pleaded not guilty in court on Thursday to federal charges.

Alisha Rahaman Sarkar has the details.

As ex-president Donald Trump was being arraigned on Thursday, one of his lawyers, Alina Habba, attempted to deflect the news cycle away from her client.

Standing outside of the federal courthouse in Washington DC, Ms Habba began giving a timeline in the Hunter Biden laptop controversy.

“On March 17, Hunter accidentally admits it was his laptop from hell,” Ms Habba said.

“June 8: an FBI document is released showing that Ukranians paid the Biden crime family millions of millions of dollars. The next day? The Mar-a-Lago raid and the Mar-a-Lago indictment.”

As the 2024 race begins ramping up, presidential candidates Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump are becoming less friendly.

During a conversation with a local news station in New Hampshire this week, Mr DeSantis lashed out at Mr Trump calling his attacks “juvenile” and saying the United States needs a different leader.

”These insults are so phony,” Mr DeSantis said. “These insults are juvenile. That’s not the way the president of the US should be conducting himself.”