The federal judge overseeing former President Trump’s classified documents case has granted his request for several more extensions to allow prosecutors to evaluate a Supreme Court immunity ruling.
Trump’s lawyers on Friday asked Judge Eileen Cannon for permission to file further documents arguing that the former president should be immune from prosecution in the case.
In a motion filed this week, Trump’s team proposed a timeline that would extend until early September, meaning a ruling wouldn’t be issued until at least the fall.
Cannon, a Trump appointee, said Saturday that prosecutors and special counsel Jack Smith have until July 18 to respond before granting Trump’s request for an extension, The New York Times reported. report.
Cannon also extended two deadlines in the case, but the delays are expected to be minor.
The former president has pleaded not guilty in the case.
Trump’s lawyers say recent Supreme Court decisions granting presidents protections for official conduct should apply to the case, in which he is accused of improperly handling classified documents after leaving office and trying to block the government’s recovery of them.
The former president’s lawyers, who asked Cannon to stay the case except for the pending gag order, also pointed to a Supreme Court decision in which Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a concurring opinion questioning the motives and authority of special counsel Jack Smith.
Smith argued that the Supreme Court’s decision doesn’t apply to the documents lawsuit because he’s not charging Trump with any official conduct. Prosecutors argued that the documents were removed, but that Trump tried to prevent the FBI from obtaining them at his Mar-a-Lago home after he was no longer in power.
The 6-3 ruling along ideological lines overturns parts of Smith’s indictment against Trump, but prosecutors have largely rejected the idea that the case should be dismissed entirely.
No trial date has been set in the case, and Cannon came under fire for indefinitely postponing the start of the trial, saying he needed more time to consider pretrial motions filed by Trump’s team seeking to have the lawsuit dismissed.
