Trump responds to motion for protective order

Former President Donald J. Trump responded yesterday to a government motion for a “protective order” in his January 6 case. It was a lightning-fast response to an order issued over the weekend with a Monday deadline. Equally surprisingly, the government filed an almost-immediate reply. The case will now go to a conference for a hearing on the motion.

Trump responds

CourtListener maintains a docket page for the case here. The government filed a Motion for Protective Order last Friday (August 4); that document is not freely available. Contrary to CNAV’s earlier report, this motion would appear to have nothing to do with Trump’s “trolling” of his opposition. (Christina Laila at The Gateway Pundit would appear also to believe the protective order was in response to Trump’s social media activity. But the government’s eventual reply filing did not mention social media activity at all.)

On Friday, at 4:16 p.m. EDT, Trump left this post on Truth Social:

IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!

At what time of day the government filed its Protective Order motion, is unclear. Judge Tanya Chutkan, the next day (Saturday), ordered Trump to respond by 5:00 p.m. yesterday. She allowed him to propose an alternative protective order in a redline/strikeout appendix. Trump’s lawyers asked for an extension of time; normally a court allows fourteen days to respond to a motion. Judge Chutkan denied the extension.

So Trump’s attorneys filed the response yesterday.

The government filed a reply almost immediately thereafter.

About protective orders

Protective orders are standard practice in criminal trials. Some material the defense receives in “criminal discovery” is “sensitive,” and courts won’t let the defense share such material elsewhere. But the government seems to have declared everything sensitive. This would make Trump the subject of unsubstantiated and not-yet-proved allegations he would be in no position to refute.

A footnote on Page 2 indicates that the government simply was not willing to cooperate with Trump’s lawyers. Worse, it allowed no time to “brief” the revisions they proposed.

Accordingly, the Trump team has asked for a hearing.

The Special Counsel’s office, for their part, accused Trump of trying his case in the public media. They insisted the court protect all documents Trump did not already have or that were in the public domain.

Judge Chutkan, in her latest Minute Order, ordered both parties to confer by 3:00 p.m. today, and file a joint notice, by Friday August 11, of mutually agreeable dates and times for a hearing. Trump need not appear in person for that hearing, according to the order.

At time of posting, the docket page shows no word yet on any request for recusal or change of venue.