Special Counsel Jack Smith made an error in referring to potential witnesses as “political witnesses” in his response brief to the appeal by the Trump legal team regarding U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan’s imposed gag order on the former president.

Chutkan issued an unprecedented gag order last month, preventing the former president from discussing crucial aspects of the case. The order has faced criticism from many individuals concerned about civil liberties, and there have been accusations of the Trump campaign interfering in the election.

Smith requested the motion to be granted, but Chutkan swiftly rescinded her own order after Trump filed an appeal. A D.C. appeals court temporarily suspended the order after reinstating it about a week later.

During the appeals process, both the prosecution and the defense were instructed to submit their briefs ahead of the designated due dates. Smith’s office utilized some of Trump’s social media posts in their brief to reinforce the argument in favor of the gag order.

“At the hearing that followed, the district court reviewed several of the defendant’s social media posts, which fell into ‘roughly five categories,’” Smith wrote. This included statements about Judge Chutkan and district court employees, statements about Smith and his team, and statements about “political witnesses.”

Smith was seemingly referring to “potential witnesses,” though the potentially revealing error has raised eyebrows. “Talk about slip of the tongue,” noted independent reporter Julie Kelly in an X post.

LOLOLOL talk about slip of the tongue.

In his response brief opposing the appeal of Judge Chutkan's gag order, Jack Smith refers to "political witnesses" instead of "potential witnesses."

Too good. pic.twitter.com/eg6A6mAYaW

— Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) November 17, 2023

As the appeals process unfolds for Chutkan’s gag order, Trump has already secured a significant victory in the fraud case against New York Attorney General Letitia James after a New York appeals court decided to overturn Judge Arthur F. Engoron’s gag order.

Citing a First Amendment free speech concern, Judge David Friedman of the first department of the appellate division made the decision from the bench on Friday, the AP reported.

Engoron “imposed the gag order Oct. 3 after Trump posted a false comment about the judge’s law clerk to social media on the second day of the trial in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit. James alleges Trump exaggerated his wealth on financial statements used to secure loans and make deals,” the AP added.