From PBS NewsHour.
Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., said Thursday that she believes there’s no legal reason for a judge to keep a gag order that restricts former special counsel Jack Smith from speaking about his investigation into former President Donald Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents.
Her comments came during a hearing focused on Smith’s investigations into both the classified documents case and Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 attack.
Balint said that District Court Judge Aileen Cannon’s gag order cited pending cases against Trump’s co-defendants in that case, but noted that those cases are no longer pending.
“So there is no reason, from where I sit, for this important information to be not made public,” she said.
The hearing is an opportunity for the career prosecutor to publicly offer his inside perspective on the investigations, which both led to unprecedented indictments. Both were scuttled once it was clear that Trump would return to the Oval Office; Department of Justice policy prevents prosecution of a sitting president.
Republicans and the president have accused Smith of pursuing a politically motivated case against the president. Trump has denied wrongdoing while attacking Smith, calling him a "criminal" who ought to be investigated and "put in prison."
Smith defended his investigations in an hourslong closed-door meeting with lawmakers in December, saying he said he had "proof beyond a reasonable doubt" of what his investigations laid out. He’s denied accusations of bias.
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