The Justice Department on Friday asked a federal judge overseeing the criminal case against former President Trump in Washington to step in after he released a post online that appeared to promise revenge on anyone who goes after him.

Prosecutors asked a federal district court judge, Tanya Chutkan, to issue a protective order in the case a day after Mr. Trump pleaded not guilty to charges of trying to overturn his 2020 election loss and block the peaceful transition of power. 

The order — which is different from a so-called “gag order” — would limit what information Mr. Trump and his legal team could share publicly about the case brought by special counsel Jack Smith.

Such protective orders are common in criminal cases, but prosecutors said it’s “particularly important in this case” because Mr. Trump has posted on social media about “witnesses, judges, attorneys, and others associated with legal matters pending against him.”

Prosecutors pointed specifically to a post on Mr. Trump’s Truth Social platform from earlier Friday in which the former president wrote, in all capital letters, “If you go after me, I’m coming after you!”

Prosecutors said they are ready to hand over a “substantial” amount of evidence — “much of which includes sensitive and confidential information” — to Mr. Trump’s legal team.

They told the judge that if Mr. Trump were to begin posting about grand jury transcripts or other evidence provided by the Justice Department, it could have a “harmful chilling effect on witnesses or adversely affect the fair administration of justice in this case.”

Prosecutors’ proposed protective order seeks to prevent Trump and his lawyers from disclosing materials provided by the government to anyone other than people on his legal team, possible witnesses, the witnesses’ lawyers or others approved by the court. 

It would put stricter limits on “sensitive materials,” which would include grand jury witness testimony and materials obtained through sealed search warrants.

A Trump representative said in an emailed statement that the former president’s post “is the definition of political speech,” and was made in response to “dishonest special interest groups and Super PACs.”

The indictment unsealed this week accuses Mr. Trump of brazenly conspiring with allies to spread falsehoods and concoct schemes intended to overturn his election loss to President Biden as his legal challenges floundered in court.

The indictment chronicles how Mr. Trump and his Republican allies, in what Mr. Smith described as an attack on a “bedrock function of the U.S. government,” repeatedly lied about the results in the two months after he lost the election and pressured Vice President Pence and state election officials to take action to help him cling to power.

Mr. Trump faces charges including conspiracy to defraud America and conspiracy to obstruct Congress’ certification of Mr. Biden’s electoral victory.

It’s the third criminal case brought this year against the the early front-runner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary. Yet it’s the first case to try to hold Mr. Trump responsible for his efforts to remain in power during the chaotic weeks between his election loss and the attack by his supporters on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

After his court appearance on Thursday before a magistrate judge, Mr. Trump characterized the case as a “persecution” designed to hurt his 2024 presidential campaign. 

His legal team has described it as an attack on his right to free speech and his right to challenge an election that he believed had been stolen.

Mr. Smith has said prosecutors will seek a “speedy trial” against Mr. Trump in the election case. Judge Chutkan has ordered the government to file a brief by Thursday proposing a trial date. The first court hearing in front of Judge Chutkan is scheduled for Aug.ust 28.

Mr. Trump is already scheduled to stand trial in March in a New York case stemming from hush-money payments made during the 2016 campaign and in May in the federal case in Florida stemming from classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

Associated Press