The stalled criminal case against Donald Trump for seeking to subvert the 2020 election is starting to move, reported Politico.
The Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on presidential immunity — a
breathtaking legal victory for Trump’s bid to sideline his criminal
prosecutions — had kept the election-subversion case on ice for months. Even
after the July 1 ruling, the high court’s rules required a one-month delay to
give prosecutors the chance to ask the justices to reconsider the outcome.
On Friday, that window closed. The case was returned to the
D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which took just minutes to send the matter back
to the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who has been in a
holding pattern since December awaiting the outcome of the immunity fight.
On Saturday, Chutkan took her first steps in the case in months, setting an
August 16 hearing to consider setting a new schedule. She has asked for
prosecutors and Trump to offer their own thinking on the matter in writing by August
9. The court session won’t force Trump off the campaign trail, since Chutkan
said she won’t require him to be present.
Still, the flurry of actions signals new life for the
gravest of the four criminal cases against Trump — and it comes at a time when
other Trump cases have stalled. Special counsel Jack Smith charged the former
president in August 2023 with four counts, alleging a sweeping conspiracy to
disenfranchise millions of voters and pressure government officials to overturn
the legitimate 2020 election results.
There appears to be no real prospect of a trial in the case
before the November election, but some Trump critics have been eagerly awaiting
the Supreme Court’s ministerial action of returning the case to the trial
court, hoping that it results in a series of swift decisions from Chutkan that
could again put Trump on the defensive.
The Supreme Court ruled that former presidents have immunity
from prosecution for many of their “officials acts,” and it said that some of
Smith’s allegations in the election case must be tossed out. But it’s not yet
clear how, or whether, the special counsel can proceed with other portions of
his indictment.
Some Trump critics have urged Chutkan to hold a hearing to
assess the effect of the immunity ruling on the evidence Smith intends to
present. That proceeding could feature witness testimony from key figures in
the case.
Trump opponents hope this “mini-trial” would showcase
Trump’s ties to the violence that unfolded on Jan. 6, 2021, and remind voters
of the most chaotic day of Trump’s presidency, even if it doesn’t carry the
same stakes as a jury trial.
In her one-page order, filed around 9:30 a.m. Saturday
morning, Chutkan did not directly address the possibility of a “mini-trial” —
often referred to by lawyers as an evidentiary hearing. However, she did signal
that she’s aware the Supreme Court ruling leaves her with decisions to make
about what part of the charges against Trump can proceed and what sort of
evidence prosecutors will be permitted to introduce.
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