Trump Election Conspiracy Case Returns to Court But Trial Far Off

AFP/APP

Washington: Donald Trump’s case on charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election returns to the courtroom on Thursday, with District Judge Tanya Chutkan presiding over a status conference in Washington, DC This hearing will set the schedule for pretrial proceedings in this historic case.

Trump, who waived his right to attend, will also be formally arraigned and has instructed his attorneys to enter a not guilty plea.

Special Counsel Jack Smith filed a new indictment last week, charging Trump with attempting to subvert the results of the presidential election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

This superseding indictment maintains the same four charges from an earlier version but incorporates the recent Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity.

The Supreme Court had ruled in July that a former president has broad immunity from prosecution for official acts conducted while in office, but not for unofficial acts.

Trump was initially set to go on trial on March 4, but this was delayed while his lawyers challenged the immunity claim up to the Supreme Court. Thursday’s status conference marks the first courtroom appearance by Smith and Trump’s attorneys since Chutkan took over the case a month ago.

Trump’s lawyers have requested a delay in the trial until after the November election, and it is unlikely the trial will occur before the vote. They have proposed pushing any pretrial arguments past the election and into January 2025, when the next president will be in office.

Smith has not proposed a specific timetable but is ready to offer written arguments on presidential immunity upon request and seeks priority for this issue.

He intends to demonstrate that some of Trump’s actions after the 2020 election were not part of his official duties, arguing that these actions were private electioneering activities rather than official functions.

Trump faces charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, specifically the January 6, 2021, joint session of Congress that was attacked by Trump supporters. He is also accused of trying to disenfranchise voters with false claims about the election results.

In addition, Trump was convicted in New York in May on 34 counts of falsifying business records related to hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels.

Sentencing is scheduled for September 18, but Trump’s lawyers are seeking to overturn the conviction, citing the Supreme Court immunity ruling. Trump also faces charges in Georgia related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election.