(AFP) – A US federal judge laid out a calendar on Thursday in the election interference case against Donald Trump, teeing up a series of legal battles in the days before and beyond the November 5 presidential vote. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan said she was currently unable to set a date for a trial of the former president on charges he conspired to overturn the 2020 election he lost to Joe Biden.
But Chutkan, in a written order following the first court hearing in the case in nearly a year, sketched out a schedule for pretrial proceedings over the next two months. The case was effectively frozen while Trump, the Republican candidate in November’s presidential election, argued that a former president should be immune from criminal prosecution. The Supreme Court ruled in July that an ex-president has broad immunity from prosecution for official acts conducted while in office, but can be pursued for unofficial acts.
Chutkan ordered Special Counsel Jack Smith, who brought the charges against Trump, to file a brief by September 26 on how the Supreme Court ruling affects the case against the former president. Trump’s lawyers, who have asked for the case to be dismissed based on the immunity ruling, were given until October 17 to reply. Prosecutors then have until October 29 to respond.
Chutkan also granted a request by Trump’s lawyers to file a motion to dismiss the case on the grounds that Smith was unlawfully appointed. They used that same argument to get another federal judge, a Trump appointee, to throw out a case against Trump for mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House. Chutkan appeared skeptical during Thursday’s hearing but said Trump’s lawyers could file their motion by October 24. Prosecutors were given until October 31 to reply and Trump’s lawyers must respond by November 7.
The schedule set by Chutkan will allow prosecutors — ahead of the contest between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris — to reveal evidence presented to the grand jury that indicted Trump.
– ‘Enormously prejudicial’ –
Trump’s lawyers had sought to delay the filing of the various briefs in the case beyond the presidential election. John Lauro, Trump’s attorney, said during Thursday’s hearing that a pretrial schedule proposed by prosecutors would be “enormously prejudicial to president Trump.” He repeatedly raised the looming presidential election but was shut down by Chutkan. The election calendar is “not relevant,” the judge said, adding that she is “definitely not getting drawn into an electoral dispute.”
Trump, 78, waived his right to be present at the hearing and his lawyers entered a not-guilty plea to the four charges he is facing. Smith filed a new indictment of Trump last week that retains the original charges but takes into account the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling. It retains the same core as the original one, stating that Trump lost in 2020 but “was determined to remain in power” and attempted to subvert the results of the election.
The Supreme Court, in its July 1 ruling, left it to Chutkan, an appointee of Democratic president Barack Obama, to determine what specific presidential actions might not enjoy immunity. Trump was originally scheduled to go on trial on March 4, but that was put on hold while his lawyers pushed his immunity claim up to the Supreme Court. Trump is accused of conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding — the January 6, 2021, joint session of Congress that was violently attacked by Trump supporters. The former president is also accused of seeking to disenfranchise US voters with his false claims that he won the 2020 election.
Trump was convicted in New York in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels. He also faces charges in Georgia related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
– Selim Saheb Ettaba and Chris Lefkow
© 2024 AFP
