Trump 'cannot keep it zipped' and has to be slapped down with gag orders: John Dean
Former President Donald Trump is unable to keep from divulging critical evidence ahead of trial, and it requires that judges take action to gag him, said former Nixon White House counsel John Dean on CNN Friday evening.
This comes as special counsel Jack Smith moves to seek a protective order against Trump from speaking about not just classified evidence, but unclassified evidence as well.
"[Reporter] Paula Reid mentioned eyebrows being raised by ... this special counsel [filing] for this evidence to remain secret, for the Trump team not to leak any of this information, because of ongoing investigations," said anchor John Berman. "What does that tell you?"
"Well, it tells me it's not dissimilar from the situation that District Attorney Bragg asked for a similar motion at the state level," said Dean, referring to the New York indictment against Trump for business fraud. "So, this is standard procedure with Donald Trump now, because we know we cannot keep it zipped and will chatter up and share information that should not be shared. So, this is a fairly standard protective order under the federal rules of criminal procedure. Not unusual."
On the other hand, Dean added, it's more interesting that federal magistrate judge Bruce Reinhart was the one who issued the ruling. "[Reinhart] is assigned with Judge Cannon but is far more seasoned in criminal trials. He, in fact, has a criminal trial background. He was in the Department of Justice and probably knows Jack Smith."
"You know, you say the former president can't keep it zipped," Berman pressed him. "What are the types of things that he could say or would be likely to say during a political speech that could get him in trouble in a courtroom?"
"Well, he has had a consistent habit of making admissions against interest," replied Dean. "In fact, the defamation case by Jean Carroll against him was largely based on his own admissions, both in a deposition as well as outside the deposition. He got a subsequent action filed against him because of his inability to keep a lip closed. So, you know, who knows where he'll go? But he could give leads to others as to what the government was doing that is inevitable, be shown to him as it relates to his case. So, these are the sort of things that this protective order seeks to caution and protect."
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