Federal Judge Cancels Trump Election Trial Date

The trial date in the election interference case against former President Donald Trump was postponed, the federal judge overseeing the case confirmed on Friday.

“The court will set a new schedule if and when the mandate is returned,” U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan wrote in the order, handing a victory to the former president as he appeals the case on arguments that he was immune from prosecution.

In her order Friday, the judge did not issue any other details. It’s also not clear when the D.C. appeals court will render its decision, while legal analysts have previously said that the case might very well be pushed back until after the November election.

His lawyers, in their appeal to the D.C. court, have said that the former president is immune from prosecution because the activity after the 2020 election was carried out in his official capacity as president. Depending on the outcome of that appeal, President Trump may appeal that case ultimately to the U.S. Supreme Court.

President Trump has pleaded not guilty to four conspiracy charges connected to his activity relating to the 2020 election.

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The former president still faces another trial in New York in March on criminal charges related to alleged hush money payments he made during the 2016 election. He also faces charges in Florida for allegedly retaining classified documents after leaving the White House and in Georgia, where he faces state charges related to the election.

Prior Activity

In January, Judge Chutkan signaled for a second time that there was a chance the Trump trial date would likely be postponed to a later date. In a case involving a Jan. 6 defendant, she scheduled a trial for that individual for early April.

Special prosecutor Jack Smith, who brought the charges against the former president, has said that President Trump’s trial will likely take four to six weeks to complete, meaning that the March 4 date will very likely push up against or even conflict with the Jan. 6 defendant’s trial.

Weeks before that order, the U.S. district judge wrote that the March 4 date was meant to provide both the Trump team and the Smith team with more time to prepare. She also adopted President Trump’s lawyers’ recommendations to prevent both the defense and prosecution from issuing new “further substantive pretrial motions without first seeking leave from the court” and that the former president “forfeits no arguments or rights by choosing not to respond at this time.”