Special counsel Jack Smith filed court documents Tuesday seeking further protections for jurors in his election interference case against Donald Trump, citing security concerns because of the former president’s “intimidating” behavior on social media.
In the 11-page filing, Smith asked U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the case, if potential jurors could fill out a written questionnaire before undergoing the in-person juror selection process. If Chutkan approves the questionnaire, giving both legal teams access to the potential jurors’ identities ahead of juror selection, the court should limit how much each party can dig into them, Smith urged.
“Given the particular sensitivities of this case, stemming both from heightened public interest and the defendant’s record of using social media to attack others,” Smith said, “the Court should impose certain limited restrictions on the ability of the parties to conduct research on potential jurors during jury selection and trial and to use juror research.”
Trump frequently uses his social media platforms “as a weapon of intimidation,” Smith noted, pointing to a recent incident in which the former president named one of the law clerks involved in a separate trial against him and circulated false rumors about her on Truth Social. The ordeal led the judge in the case to issue a gag order against Trump.
The special counsel also pointed to threats that Trump’s supporters made against grand jurors who returned an indictment against him in Fulton County, Georgia.
Smith’s proposed limits include blocking the legal teams from making any kind of contact with a potential juror or attempting to “friend” or “follow” them on social media “to gain access to posts or profiles that are not otherwise publicly available.” He also seeks to prevent “any form of investigation—whether online or otherwise— that could reasonably be perceived as vexatious or harassing.”
He also emphasized that legal teams should keep all potential jurors’ identities and personal information private.
Jury selection in this case ― one of four that Trump has recently been indicted in ― is scheduled to start on March 4. The former president faces four felony charges in the case, including conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government.