Lawyers Seek Gag Order on Senior Trump Officials in Abrego Garcia Case

Lawyers for Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia asked a federal judge on Thursday to bar senior Trump administration officials from making public statements about their client, saying repeated attacks by Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security figures have created a substantial risk of prejudicing his criminal trial. The motion, filed in U.S. District Court in Nashville, seeks an order preventing officials including Attorney General Pam Bondi and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem from making extrajudicial comments about Abrego Garcia as he faces a human smuggling indictment in Tennessee.

The filing says administration officials have disseminated "highly prejudicial, inflammatory, and false statements" that portray Abrego Garcia as guilty of offenses beyond the indictment and could taint any jury pool. Prosecutors in Tennessee have charged him with participating in a conspiracy to smuggle undocumented immigrants beginning in 2016. Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled for trial in January, his attorneys said.

Lawyers argued that senior officials have described him as an MS13 gang member, human trafficker, serial domestic abuser and child predator, and have...