Trump won't face trial before Election Day

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) - Former president Donald Trump won’t face trial before the 2024 election on charges he tried to overturn the last election. U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan declined to set a new trial date in a hearing on that Jan. 6 case in a D.C. courtroom on Thursday.

Chutkan is back in charge of the case after Trump challenged the case in the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court ruled Trump is immune from any official acts he took as president.

The ruling forced Special Counsel Jack Smith to seek a new indictment against former President Trump. A grand jury returned one, nine pages shorter than the last.

In a scheduling order issued late Thursday, Chutkan set several deadlines for lawyers to file documents to the court, the last of which is due on Nov. 7, two days after the presidential election.

Prosecutors and lawyers for Trump argued about schedules in the D.C. courtroom on Thursday. Trump attorney, John Lauro, said some deadlines should be delayed, because prosecutors would be able to put evidence into the public record at a “sensitive time.”

“The timing of the election is not relevant here,” Chutkan fired back. “This court is not concerned with the electoral schedule.”

Lauro said Trump’s attorneys planned to argue his communications with former Vice President Mike Pence fall under the immunity standard created by the Supreme Court. If Chutkan agreed, Lauro said, that would “tank the entire indictment.”

Trump’s attorneys also indicated they would file a motion to dismiss the case because Special Counsel Jack Smith’s appointment was not legal. They referenced a concurring opinion written by Judge Clarence Thomas.

“Thomas, in effect, directed us to do this,” Lauro said.

He also referenced the order by Judge Aileen Cannon dismissing the classified documents case in Florida on those same grounds. Chutkan said she did not find Cannon’s order persuasive.

Next, lawyers will brief Chutkan on the issue of immunity. She said, she expects any ruling she makes to be appealed, further delaying the case.