Judge Tanya Chutkan imposed a string of court deadlines on Donald Trump that will occur throughout the next two months, putting a renewed focus on the former president’s election interference charges in the final weeks of his presidential campaign.
Chutkan’s schedule largely aligned with special counsel Jack Smith’s request that the court restart proceedings in the case by delving into a debate about how the Supreme Court’s decision on presidential immunity should affect Trump’s charges.
Government prosecutors must present their first arguments about presidential immunity by Sept. 27, and Trump’s defense team must respond by Oct. 17, according to Chutkan’s order. The judge could decide after that to hold a hearing on the matter, though it is unlikely that that would occur before the November election.
Chutkan also set numerous other deadlines in October for Trump’s defense attorneys to submit their arguments about why they believe his charges should be dismissed.
Chutkan’s new deadlines come after the judge held a hearing Thursday morning in Washington, D.C., during which she appeared critical of Trump’s proposal to stretch court proceedings well into next year to give his legal team time to argue that the case be dropped before starting arguments about immunity.
The disputes over how to revive the case and Chutkan’s eventual order establishing a new schedule in it come after the Supreme Court decided in July that presidents enjoy some immunity from criminal prosecution.
The high court had ordered Chutkan to examine Smith’s indictment and decide what activity in it was official conduct, therefore protected from prosecution, and what activity was private conduct, thus fair game for Smith to use against Trump.
Smith responded last month by slimming down his allegations in a superseding indictment while still maintaining his four initial charges against Trump.
The next moves in the case will involve government prosecutors submitting court filings by the new September deadline in which they defend Smith’s new indictment and argue that the activity in it is unrelated to Trump’s presidential duties and therefore not immune from prosecution.
Trump’s defense attorneys have indicated that they will respond by arguing that much of the conduct in the indictment, including, in particular, his communications with former Vice President Mike Pence, is immunized and cannot be used against the former president.
Defense attorney John Lauro said at the hearing Thursday that Trump’s position is that the indictment is “wholly illegitimate.”
Chutkan acknowledged that there was a lot to resolve between addressing the immunity question and hearing out Trump’s new arguments for dismissing his case. She said that trying to set a trial start date at this early stage would be an “exercise in futility.”
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The judge also said she expected Trump to appeal the eventual ruling she hands down on the immunity argument “regardless” of what she rules, signaling she already planned to issue a decision that would be unfavorable to Trump.
Chutkan’s full order is below.
