Southeast
Judge refuses to gag Trump in classified docs case, says special counsel motion failed 'basic' requirements
A federal judge on Tuesday denied Special Counsel Jack Smith’s request for a gag order on former President Donald Trump in his classified documents case after defense attorneys called it “unconstitutional censorship.”
In an order, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon found that Smith’s prosecutors failed to properly confer with Trump’s lawyers before filing the motion in violation of court rules. The judge said prosecutors did not give Trump’s team “sufficient time” to review their motion, which was filed Friday evening on Memorial Day weekend.
“Because the filing of the Special Counsel’s motion did not adhere to these basic requirements, it is due to be denied without prejudice,” the judge said.
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Special Counsel Jack Smith arrives to give remarks on a recently unsealed indictment including four felony counts against former President Trump on Aug. 1, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Trump’s attorneys on Monday accused the government of “unconstitutional censorship” in response to federal prosecutors asking the judge in his classified documents case for a gag order.
In a court filing, Trump’s outraged legal team asked a federal judge in Florida to sanction and fine prosecutors from special counsel Jack Smith’s office, which requested that the court modify Trump’s conditions of release and prohibit him from making future statements about FBI agents who executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 22, 2023.
“President Donald J. Trump respectfully submits this procedural opposition to the May 24, 2024 filing by the Special Counsel’s Office, which improperly asks the Court to impose an unconstitutional gag order on President Trump, as a condition of his pretrial release, based on vague and unsupported assertions about threats to law enforcement personnel whose names have been redacted from public filings and whose identities are already subject to a protective order,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in the filing.
“… [T]he Court should strike the Motion, make civil contempt findings as to all government attorneys who participated in the decision to file the Motion without meaningful conferral, and impose sanctions after holding an evidentiary hearing regarding the purpose and intent behind the Office’s decision to willfully disregard required procedures,” the defense attorneys wrote.
JACK SMITH ASKS JUDGE TO RESTRICT TRUMP STATEMENTS AFTER ‘INFLAMMATORY’ REMARKS ABOUT FBI RAID
Former President Trump and special counsel Jack Smith. Trump’s attorneys accused Smith and his prosecutors of “unconstitutional censorship” in response to a motion for a gag order in the classified documents case in Florida. (Getty Images)
On Friday evening, Smith’s team filed a motion to U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon, who is presiding over the classified documents case, and requested that she prohibit Trump from making statements that “pose a significant, imminent, and foreseeable danger to law enforcement agents participating in the investigation and prosecution of this case.” Trump claimed in a campaign appeal that FBI agents were “locked & loaded ready to take me out & put my family in danger.”
Prosecutors said Trump’s “grossly misleading” claims cited a standard FBI form that details limiting the use of force to emergency situations. The same form was used when federal agents searched for documents at President Biden’s home.
READ TRUMP’S MOTION BELOW – APP USERS, CLICK HERE:
“Trump, however, has distorted the standard inclusion of the policy limiting the use of deadly force by mischaracterizing it as a claim that the FBI “WAS AUTHORIZED TO SHOOT ME,” was “just itching to do the unthinkable,” and was “locked & loaded ready to take me out,’” Smith’s team wrote in their filing.
The prosecution argued that Trump’s “deceptive and inflammatory claims” exposed federal agents to “unjustified and unacceptable risks,” inviting “threats and harassment” against investigators that would “undermine the integrity of the proceedings as well as jeopardize the safety of law enforcement.”
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Former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. (Charles Trainor Jr./Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Trump’s attorneys countered Tuesday that Smith’s request was “an extraordinary, unprecedented and unconstitutional censorship application” that “unjustly targets President Trump’s campaign speech while he is the leading candidate for the presidency.”
They requested that Judge Cannon hold a hearing to determine Smith’s “motives and purpose” in filing the gag order motion “on the Friday preceding a holiday weekend,” pointing out that Trump’s defense summation is scheduled to begin in Manhattan on Tuesday for his New York criminal case. The timing, they insisted, violated rules governing how motions are filed and was unprofessional.
The 15-page motion also referred to Smith and his team as “the Thought Police” and accused prosecutors of being “biased and reckless” and “driven by political animus against President Trump.”
GOP SLAMS ‘WEAPONIZATION’ OF DOJ AFTER TRUMP’S MAR-A-LAGO RAIDED BY FBI; DEMS CALL IT ‘ACCOUNTABILITY’
Former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida was searched by the FBI in 2022. (Getty Images)
Trump has repeatedly claimed the indictment Smith filed against him last June was part of a politically-motivated “witch hunt” designed to keep him from winning the presidency. Smith’s team has vehemently denied the allegations and asserted their motives are pure, intended to support the rule of law.
Trump is accused of keeping at his estate classified documents that he took with him after he left the White House in 2021, and then obstructing the government’s efforts to retrieve them. The FBI agents seized 33 boxes of documents in the raid.
The investigation is overseen by Smith, who Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed. Smith has charged Trump with 40 felony counts, including violating the Espionage Act, making false statements to investigators and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
Trump has pleaded not guilty. The case is not expected to go to trial until after the November election.
Fox News’ David Spunt and Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.
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Southeast
Virginia murder suspect in bus stop stabbing had lengthy criminal history, multiple dropped charges
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A Virginia murder suspect accused of fatally stabbing a woman at a bus stop earlier this week has a lengthy criminal history filled with multiple arrests, but was let back onto the streets nearly every time.
Abdul Jalloh, 32, is charged with the Monday night killing of Stephanie Minter, 41, of Fredericksburg, at a bus stop shelter, the Fairfax County Police Department said.
Minter was found by officers with stab wounds to her upper body and pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Abdul Jalloh, 32, is accused of killing Stephanie Minter, 41, at a Virginia bus stop. (Fairfax County Police Department; provided)
Jalloh, 32, who was seen on surveillance cameras exiting the bus with Minter at Richmond Highway and Arlington Drive, was arrested the next day.
He was arrested at a liquor store after an employee called 911. At the time, officers arrested him for allegedly shoplifting. Investigators linked him to the murder a day later.
Authorities were still trying to determine a motive for the killing and what led to the deadly stabbing.
A search of online court records revealed Jalloh has more than a dozen arrests in northern Virginia, including on charges of petty larceny and malicious wounding.
In most of the cases, prosecutors dropped the charges, FOX D.C. reported.
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Abdul Jalloh seen on a bus in Virginia. (Fairfax County Police Department)
Laura Birnbaum, the chief of staff for Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano, said Jalloh was known to the district attorney’s office and was “acutely aware of the risk he posed to the community.”
“That is why we convicted the defendant of a 2023 malicious wounding charge, and have since made every effort to hold him accountable each subsequent time that he has come in contact with the criminal justice system, including asking him to be held in custody whenever possible,” Birnbaum said.
“Unfortunately, the defendant in this case also had a history of selecting victims with no fixed address – some of the most vulnerable members of our community,” she added. “In multiple cases, we were unable to move forward with prosecution because victims could not be located or contacted.”
Stephanie Minter, 41, was killed on Monday after getting off of a bus in Virginia. (Provided)
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An obituary for Minter described her as a “happy, jolly” person.
“A beam of light in dark places,” the obituary states.
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Southeast
Dem governor under fire after illegal alien allegedly stabs woman to death at bus stop: ‘Heinous’
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EXCLUSIVE: The Department of Homeland Security is calling on Virginia’s Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger to ensure local law enforcement cooperates with federal immigration officials by handing over an illegal immigrant with a lengthy criminal record who allegedly killed a woman earlier this week at a Virginia bus stop.
Police in Fairfax County, Virginia, arrested an illegal immigrant from Sierra Leone earlier this week on charges of second-degree murder after he allegedly fatally stabbed a woman, Stephanie Minter, 41, who was found dead at a local bus stop with several wounds to the upper body.
The alleged suspect, Abdul Jalloh, 32, also has a criminal history of more than 30 arrests, according to DHS, including for rape, malicious wounding, assault, identity theft, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, assault and pick-pocketing.
The request from the Trump administration comes after the newly elected Democratic governor of Virginia signed an executive order to end cooperation between federal immigration officials and state and local law enforcement, a move several Democratic Party governors have taken recently amid President Donald Trump’s move to increase deportation operations around the country.
The DHS request asking Virginia officials to cooperate with ICE also comes after an illegal immigrant allegedly murdered someone just days after being released from jail for a separate crime in December.
Abdul Jalloh, 32, and Gov. Abigail Spanberger (Department of Homeland Security/Getty Images)
“We are calling on Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger and Virginia’s sanctuary politicians to commit to not releasing this murderer and violent career criminal from their jail without notifying ICE,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis.
“This illegal alien’s murder of an innocent, beautiful American woman came less than 24 hours before Governor Spanberger’s demonization of ICE law enforcement. This heinous criminal is a perfect example of why we need cooperation from sanctuary jurisdictions and the importance of third country removals for the safety of the American people.”
Spanberger’s representatives did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Jalloh entered the United States illegally in 2012, according to DHS, and immigration officials lodged an immigration detainer against him in 2020, whereupon he was granted a final order of removal by a judge who said he could be removed to any country other than Sierra Leone.
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Protesters, using whistles to alert neighborhoods to ICE activity, face off with Minneapolis police officers in Minneapolis Jan. 24, 2026. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)
DHS indicated that ICE cooperation to ensure Jalloh’s deportation is evident after a case Fox News covered in December when a criminal illegal alien from El Salvador, Marvin Morales-Ortez, 23, allegedly killed a man just a day after Fairfax County jail officials let him go.
The immigrant from El Salvador had been in custody on charges of malicious wounding and brandishing a gun, but police released him after the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, led by George Soros-backed prosecutor Steve Descano, dropped the charges.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Fairfax County Sheriff’s office to inquire about why the man had not been handed over to ICE.
The sheriff’s office said, “ICE was aware of Morales-Ortez’s incarceration and elected not to seek a judicial warrant to ensure he remained in custody.
Marvin Morales-Ortez, who is living in the country illegally, was released from Fairfax County custody and then allegedly committed a murder the next day. (Fairfax County Police Department/Getty Images)
“The Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office follows all local, state and federal laws when determining whether a person is subject to release from the ADC,” the sheriff’s office told Fox News Digital at the time. “Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is automatically notified any time a person is booked into the ADC.”
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The same sheriff’s office did not get back to Fox News Digital’s media inquiry for this story on DHS urging officials to cooperate with federal officials.
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Southeast
Illegal immigrant arrested after showing up to Florida Border Patrol office for contract IT work
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FIRST ON FOX: An illegal immigrant who reported to a U.S. Border Patrol site in Florida to perform some Information technology contractual work was arrested when authorities were made aware of his citizenship status, officials said.
Angel Camacho, a Venezuelan citizen, reported to a USBP center in Dania Beach, Florida, Jan. 6 to do some IT work when U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials began vetting him, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told Fox News Digital.
During its investigation, it was revealed Camacho was in violation of U.S. immigration laws, authorities said.
Angel Camacho reported to a Florida U.S. Border Patrol center to perform contractual work when he was arrested, a Department of Homeland Security official said. (Getty Images )
“CBP vets all external visitors before allowing them to enter secure facilities to ensure safety and operational integrity,” DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement.
“During the vetting process, CBP uncovered this individual was a tourist visa overstay in the country for over five years.”
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This photo shows a U.S. Border Patrol patch on a border agent’s uniform in McAllen, Texas, Jan. 15, 2019. (Suzanne CordeiroAFP via Getty Images)
Camacho was arrested and transferred to ICE custody, Bis said.
His criminal history includes theft and resisting a Florida Highway Patrol officer, officials said. Federal authorities have nabbed several illegal immigrants in the process of trying to obtain employment in law enforcement and education.
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One Sierra Leone citizen was recently arrested as he was training to become a Pennsylvania corrections officer.
Another illegal immigrant, Ian Roberts, served as the former superintendent of Iowa’s largest district, Des Moines Public Schools, before he was arrested by ICE.
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