CNN, Washington — According to a recent court order in the case, the federal election subversion case
against former President Donald Trump has been postponed due to ongoing appeals regarding the
authority of the presidency. The trial date was set to take place in Washington, DC. The case has been
postponed while a federal appeals court considers arguments made by Trump regarding his immunity
from prosecution due to his role as president prior to the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The trial was originally scheduled for March 4. The appeals court has not yet rendered a decision
regarding immunity. Even though it wasn’t official until US District Judge Tanya Chutkan’s order on
Friday, the likelihood that the March trial date would happen decreased. Chutkan cautioned Smith’s team
not to proceed without her approval after Trump’s team complained in January that prosecutors were still
submitting court documents despite the case’s suspension. The former president, who has pushed to
postpone the trial until after the 2024 presidential election, has won with the delay, though it remains to
be seen if he will be able to do so until after November’s election.
According to two Trump aides who spoke to CNN, Chutkan’s failure to set a new trial date is the main
reason why Chutkan’s team is pushing for additional delays in the most recent court order. The parties
and even court officials had also expected a delay, given the amount of time that has passed without a
DC Circuit decision regarding presidential immunity. It took the court nearly a month to rule on the case,
and it may take even longer. The DC Circuit’s decision is probably going to be challenged in an appeal to
the Supreme Court. Chutkan said in her order on Friday that the potential jurors would no longer be
required to complete a written questionnaire, even though they had been asked to appear in court the
following week. In the order, Chutkan stated,
“If and when the mandate is returned, the court will set a
new schedule.
” Special Counsel Jack Smith has charged Trump with four counts of election subversion,
including conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding and defraud the United States. The ex-president
entered a not guilty plea. Of the several criminal indictments that Trump is facing, the federal case
against him was scheduled to start first.
Given the conflicting trial date in Washington, the judge in the New York case—the first of four
indictments against Trump filed last year—has long rejected defense requests to move up the start date
to March 25. The judge made the correct assumption that the former president’s schedule might change
as the trial drew closer. Final details are expected to be worked out at Trump’s pretrial hearing in
Manhattan on February 15. It appears that the New York case will begin on schedule. Certain witnesses
have stated that they have been instructed to be prepared to testify, and the judge has been in
discussions with Trump’s attorneys and prosecutors regarding the jury selection process. In the New York
case, it is alleged that Trump concealed payments made on the Republican’s behalf to stifle negative
reports prior to his victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016, by classifying them as legal fees.
There’s no guarantee that Trump will serve time in prison, even though a guilty decision would give him
yet another historic distinction as the first former president to be found guilty of a crime and possibly
impede his bid to win back the White House. Rival campaign strategists and Trump detractors have long
lamented the fact that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg was the first to be indicted, arguing that
this served to dilute the political impact of subsequent, more serious charges as voters became
disinterested or perplexed by the sheer number of cases.
Bragg has rejected the term “hush money” about his case, choosing instead to refer to it as another
instance of Trump “election interference” in recent weeks. However, this case concerns actions behind
closed doors during Trump’s initial 2016 presidential campaign. Meanwhile, Trump is being prosecuted in
Florida on numerous felonies for allegedly keeping classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate without
authorization. The trial is scheduled for May 20, but it may still be postponed. In a different Georgia case,
he is accused of conspiring to rig the 2020 election in Fulton County by District Attorney Fani Willis. The
trial has not been scheduled.
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