A federal judge on Thursday effectively confirmed that former President Donald Trump's trial on charges of trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election will not begin until voters head to the polls on Nov. 5.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan said: Pretrial deliberation The extension, until November 7, will allow special counsel Jack Smith to uncover some evidence damning Trump before election night.
The prosecution is scheduled to complete discovery by September 10 and submit its report on questions of presidential immunity on September 26.
The Trump campaign had been fighting at a hearing on Thursday to be in a position to launch a first attack on the presidential immunity issue (which the Supreme Court has referred to lower courts for further review), but Chutkan ruled he would order the campaign to file a response by Oct. 17.
Judge Chutkan effectively reopened some of the pretrial arguments to comply with the Supreme Court's July 1 decision on presidential immunity and also reversed his earlier decision denying President Trump's motion to dismiss the case.
She gave his team a deadline of Oct. 17 to file a new motion to dismiss based on presidential immunity, as well as Oct. 3 to file a supplemental motion to dismiss based on statutory grounds.
Smith's team last week revised the indictment against Trump, adjusting the Supreme Court's decision, which concluded that the president enjoys absolute immunity for his official duties in office but sent the election interference lawsuit back to lower courts on whether it could proceed.
In the revised indictment, Smith maintained the same four charges against Trump but removed references to conduct that may have been official business and sprinkled in explanations for why other conduct at issue did not relate to official business.
Trump formally pleaded not guilty to the charges. Tuesday, according to court documents..
Judge Chutkan, who will decide whether the election interference lawsuit against President Trump can proceed following the Supreme Court's immunity decision, has called the case a “futile endeavor” and has not set a date for the trial to begin.
During a somewhat tense hearing Thursday, Chutkan ignored concerns about the 2024 presidential election in planning his schedule.
Trump's legal team has made noises that prosecutors could be allowed to leak unfavorable political information about the 45th president just before voters head to the polls.
“The electoral process and the timing of the election are irrelevant here,” Chutkan argued during the hearing. From Politico“This court has no say in election dates.”
President Trump was indicted on four counts of 2020 election interference, and since the charges were revealed in August 2023, his team has embarked on an effort to delay the case for as long as possible.
By late last year, his lawyers were able to challenge the case with a novel argument about presidential immunity, effectively freezing the proceedings.
There was little talk Thursday about the possibility that Trump would win the Nov. 5 presidential election, return to the White House and instruct the Justice Department to cease operations.
“This case has been going on for over a year. We're not sprinting to the finish line,” Chutkan reportedly joked when Trump lawyer John Lauro suggested prosecutors were trying to rush proceedings.
Lauro also pointed to a decision by U.S. District Judge Eileen Cannon in July to rule Smith's appointment unconstitutional and toss out a 40-count indictment charging Trump with concealing classified documents.
Smith Already appealed Of that decision.
Chutkan gave Trump's team permission to file a new motion challenging the validity of Smith's appointment.
Another point of contention that emerged during Thursday's hearing was how much detail prosecutors could provide about Trump's alleged campaign to pressure former Vice President Mike Pence to decertify the results of the 2020 election.
The Supreme Court has ruled that in gray areas, the president is entitled to a presumption of innocence. Chutkan argued that the court left that question regarding Pence to her to resolve.
Trump faces 14 criminal charges pending against him, including 10 related to an election fraud case in Georgia that has been effectively put on hold due to an appeal by prosecutors.
A jury in May found Trump guilty on 34 charges in the Manhattan hush-money case. A verdict has yet to be reached.
The 78-year-old has denied any wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty to all charges.
