🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
It is becoming increasingly likely that the start of Donald Trump's election interference trial will not begin at the original date scheduled by Judge Tanya Chutkan.
Chutkan, who is overseeing the federal trial into the former president's alleged criminal attempts to overturn the 2020 election results and the events that led up to the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, had set March 4 as the date when the proceedings will begin. Trump has pleaded not guilty to four charges under Special Counsel Jack Smith's probe.
The case is currently on hold as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decides whether Trump should be immune from prosecution as the charges against him relate to his time in office.
However, there is still no real indication from the appeals court as to when it will decide on whether presidential immunity can be applied to Trump in this case. A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit had legal arguments on the immunity defense on January 9 and were highly skeptical of the former president's claims.
Federal prosecutors have argued that committing crimes does not fall under a president's duties, and, therefore, Trump cannot cite absolute immunity to dismiss the case.
Former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance said on her blog, Civil Discourse: "The clock continues to tick, making it all but impossible for Judge Chutkan's March 5 trial date in the Special Counsel's January 6 prosecution to hold up."
Jordan Rubin, a legal reporter and former prosecutor, said in an MSNBC column: "While some observers are eager for a ruling as soon as possible to avoid further delay of Trump's federal election interference trial, which technically is set to start March 4, whether the opinion takes weeks instead of days isn't the judges' greatest concern."
Newsweek reached out to the Department of Justice via email for comment.
Chutkan herself has also indicated that the March trial date may have to be pushed back because of the proceedings currently being put on hold.
On January 18, Chutkan submitted court filings that prevented Smith's team from submitting motions pending the result of the immunity appeal.
In her six-page order, Chutkan said that the time in which the case has been frozen while the parties wait for the court's decision will not count towards the seven months between indictment and trial, which she offered the former president's legal team to prepare for the case.
"Contrary to Defendant's assertion, the court has not and will not set deadlines in this case based on the assumption that he has undertaken preparations when not required to do so," Chutkan wrote.
Chutkan also noted that when the appeals process is concluded and the "court sets a new schedule," Trump's legal team could raise further objections to Smith's team continuing to make court filings despite the case being on hold.
Lawyer and legal analyst Lisa Rubin previously suggested that Chutkan may delay Trump's trial while noting that she had set an April 2 trial date for a defendant charged over the January 6 attack.
"This is the second time in a week that Chutkan has dropped breadcrumbs about the expected timing of Trump's federal election interference case," Rubin posted on X, formerly Twitter, on January 24.
"But in the end, the biggest factor in her timing is the resolution of an appeal not within her control."
fairness meter
About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, and Florida ... Read more