Washington DC - Special Counsel Jack Smith has filed a request for the reinstatement of a gag order against former President Donald Trump in his federal election trial.

On Tuesday, Smith and his team submitted a filing to the United States Court of Appeals, where they argued that the initial gag order brought forth by Judge Tanya Chutkan should be reimposed as Trump continues to publicly attack those involved in his upcoming March trial for allegedly conspiring to overturn the 2020 election.

"There has never been a criminal case in which a court has granted a defendant an unfettered right to try his case in the media, malign the prosecutor and his family, and... target specific witnesses with attacks on their character and credibility," Smith wrote.

According to Newsweek, the filing comes after Trump made more disparaging comments about Smith over the weekend during a rally in Claremont, New Hampshire, where he claimed Smith's "wife and family despise me much more than he does."

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"I think he's about a ten," Trump said, ranking Smith's family members based on his claim. "They're about a 15, on a scale of 10... He's a disgrace to America."

Smith argued in the filing that Judge Chutkan's order allowed Trump to do "virtually everything that he has claimed... he must be able to do to run for office."

"And the distinctions it draws between criticizing the policies of a political rival or describing the prosecution as politically motivated, on the one hand, and targeting trial participants or their expected trial testimony, on the other, is readily comprehensible," Smith added. "The Order should be affirmed."

Trump, who regularly uses social media and his rallies to publicly insult and attack those involved in the many legal issues he faces, was initially hit with a gag order by Judge Tanya Chutkan back in October after Smith and his team filed two separate requests.

Trump quickly appealed the order, causing it to be put on hold as Chutkan hears his team's arguments. After she decided to reinstate the order, Trump submitted an emergency request to the appeals court, once again leaving the order in limbo.

In the filing, Smith compared Trump's dark rhetoric to that of King Henry II, whose words led to the murder of a priest in 1770.

"Repeated attacks are often understood as a signal to act - just as King Henry II's remark, 'Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?' resulted in Thomas à Becket's murder," Smith argued.

The Court of Appeals will hear arguments from both parties next week before coming to their decision.