Jack Smith Asks Judge for More Time to Prep Trump’s Election Case
Prosecutors are now asking U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan for three more weeks before pretrial proceedings begin.
Leah Millis/Reuters
Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office asked the Washington, D.C., judge overseeing the election interference case against former President Donald Trump for three more weeks to consider the ramifications of the Supreme Court’s monumental presidential immunity ruling in July.
U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan refused to dismiss the case on Saturday, and both the government and Trump’s defense attorneys were scheduled to attend a status conference on Aug. 16.
But now federal prosecutors are asking Chutkan for more time. “The Government has not finalized its position on the most appropriate schedule for the parties to brief issues related to the decision,” prosecutors wrote in a memo filed on Thursday. Smith’s office said it needed more time to assess the new Supreme Court precedent, which includes “consultation with other Department of Justice components.”
Prosecutors asked the judge to push the beginning of pretrial proceedings back to Aug. 30, and said that Trump’s attorneys did not object to the new schedule.
The immunity ruling has already greatly affected the other cases against the former president. In Florida, Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the mishandling of classified documents case after delaying a trial for months. Smith’s office immediately appealed the dismissal to the 11th Circuit Court in Atlanta.
Trump celebrated the Supreme Court’s controversial ruling and claimed it gave him “TOTAL EXONERATION” in all the cases against him.
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However, New York Judge Juan Merchan has moved ahead with Trump’s sentencing. After delaying his initial sentencing date in July, Merchan rescheduled the hearing for Sept. 18.
Trump was previously convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records related to mischaracterized hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign.
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