More now on the breaking news
that we are getting in just this hour. Tonight, in the Trump
classified documents case as Jack Smith, the special counsel
and prosecutors are asking Judge Eileen Cannon in Florida to place a gag
order on former President Donald Trump in the wake of his,
quote, false and inflammatory statements suggesting that law enforcement
agents were authorized to assassinate him when they executed
a search warrant at Mar a Lago. They had a standard
deadly use of force policy. They had the exact same one when they conducted that search
for documents at President Biden's home. I should note that is something
that Attorney General Merrick Garland reminded everyone of this week
when he was asked about this. Jack Smith in this filing tonight is arguing that Trump's comments
has endangered law enforcement officers involved in this investigation
in the prosecution of this case and that it threatens
the integrity of the proceedings as well. This is an extraordinary step
by special counsel Jack Smith,
one that we have not seen him take yet. And for more on this, I want to bring in the former FBI
deputy director Andrew McCabe. Andrew, let me read you part of this filing that we're truly
just reading as we're on air right now. But Jackson, this team says, you know,
they're talking about the implications of Trump's comments, and that's echoed
by his Republican allies. And they say professional law enforcement
officers and agents in this country put their lives on the line every day
and carrying out their duties to enforce the law. And they're saying that would execute
in court or court authorized warrants. Those professionals face many
uncertainties and potentially grave risks and they're saying to minimize that, you know, agents here are just planning
for all contagion contingencies. That is part of their job. And that is why you could read about that deadly use of force policy
in this search warrant. That's absolutely right. And so this is very important
to understand the context. This is an operations plan
which is required for the execution of every search warrant and arrest warrant
that FBI agents engage in. This is part of the FBI policy. And the operations plan includes
tons of information, primarily for the other agents who are going
to take part in that operation. It tells them where to go,
when to be there, who's going to be driving, which vehicles,
all sorts of things like that. This particular section is required,
but it's not. It is part of the form. Like it's not even something that agents have to type in on every plan
because it's baked into the form. And that is a recitation of the DOJ's
authorization to use legal force,
I'm sorry, lethal force. The reason it's there is to make sure that every agent
who goes out on this operation understands the limits of using lethal force,
that they're only authorized to use it to protect their life
or the life of someone else. It is not an authorization or some sort of statement of intent
or direction for the operation. It is the legal limit on how agents can use lethal force
in the course of their duties. And it's the same on
every single operation. I mean, I just wonder what it's like
for you to to see these comments that Trump's fundraising off of this,
saying the FBI was, quote, in all caps authorized to shoot me,
that they were itching to do the unthinkable,
that they were, quote, locked and loaded, ready to take me out
and put my family in danger. You know, we've known for a while
that there's absolutely no limit to the lies
and the slander that the former president will say and use against the FBI
and its people, particularly. He has been doing this for years. But this actually, for me, reaches an all
time low. Right. He's he is quite literally
putting those agents and the people who supported them
on this mission in mortal danger. Right. This is a direct effort to inflame
his supporters, to inflame his base, some of whom not the majority,
but some of whom we know. Listen to these directions
and these lies very carefully and then take action based upon
what they hear the former president say. So I think that the special counsel
is doing absolutely the right thing and the necessary thing here
to try to put some restraint on him that will potentially keep
these agents from getting harmed. I also have George Conway here
joining us, Andrew, on this breaking news. And I mean, George Conway, obviously,
I don't think it's any secret to anyone who watching
you're not a fan of Donald Trump, but for something like this,
for someone who declares himself the law and order president and talks
about how he's there to back the blue and attends memorial services for officers
here in New York, and then to see how he's talking
about these law enforcement officers simply because they work
under the umbrella of the FBI and how he feels about
the FBI is quite remarkable when you read how that puts it in
these stark terms here in this filing. Yeah, And I don't think you
I mean, I don't think there are terms that are stark enough to describe
what Donald Trump has done here. I mean, he's a pathological liar.
He lies about everything. But this lie is just an exceedingly
dangerous lie. As as as the attorney general and Mr. McCabe has pointed out and
and it's an attack on the entire system of the legal system, as Judge Grasso
put it before the break, and to emphasize how dramatic this is,
this message is going out to tens of millions of people
who are on the campaign mailing list. I have the email right
here, the campaign email. I nearly escaped death from Donald Trump. And again, you know,
they're they're they're they're fishing. They're they're just itching
to do the unthinkable. There it is. Is is basically accusing the government
of trying to take him out. And, you know,
10 million people get this email. I don't know how many people get this
email. All it takes is one or two of them
to shoot somebody saying he was thinking that, hey, I hit the government
trying to shoot my president. I'm going to I'm going to fight back. And that's that's it's it's
absolutely appalling. I want to point out one other thing
about this motion, which is a little kind of a lesser aspect of it, but this is
this really puts Judge Cannon on the spot. Yeah. This woman has absolutely,
completely shown an absolute bias
against the government from day one. In multiple ways,
she's dragging her feet on this case. And if she does not
do something about this, I think that I think the special counsel
may use this as the opportunity to try to get the 11th Circuit
to get rid of her. So she's really on the spot here. She's actually going to have to. Do you think that she'll do something? I don't know. But she
she she better because this is just this is just completely outrageous. I mean, it is really an attempt
to incite violence against government agents based on the complete
pathological lie and misreading and. GROSS I mean, just absolutely obscene misreading of a standard document
that limits the use of force. It's absolutely a
the notion that that so many people had to participate to send this email
and an hour an hour beholden to Trump and are doing these things just shows you
the level of just moral depravity that that that that Trump emanates and that surrounds him. It's I can't words cannot describe that level of depravity
to send to send this message out. Yeah. And I think it's safe to say
it's an intentional misreading. We'll see what Judge Cannon decides here. Obviously, this is now in her hands. George Conway, thank you for jumping
on this breaking news with us. Also to you, Andrew McCabe. I really appreciate having both of your
perspectives on this tonight.
