Prosecutors and Donald Trump’s lawyers sparred in court on Thursday over setting a calendar for the former president’s trial on charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election he lost to Joe Biden.
The contentious hearing in a downtown Washington courtroom was the first held by US District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan since she regained control over the historic case a month ago.
Proceedings were effectively frozen for months while Trump, the Republican candidate in November’s White House election, argued that a former president should be immune from criminal prosecution.
Trump waived his right to be present at Thursday’s hearing, which was intended to lay out a schedule for proceedings going forward, and his lawyers entered a not-guilty plea to the four charges he is facing.
The Supreme Court ruled in July that an ex-president has broad immunity from prosecution for official acts conducted while in office, but can be pursued for unofficial acts.
Special Counsel Jack Smith filed a new indictment of Trump last week that retains the original four charges but takes into account the Supreme Court ruling.
Prosecutors and John Lauro, a Trump attorney, jockeyed during the hearing over a calendar and how to address immunity questions raised by the Supreme Court ruling.
Lauro argued that if conversations between Trump and his then vice president Mike Pence were ruled to be immune then the entire case should be dismissed.
“If in fact the communications (with Pence) are immune then the entire indictment is improper and illegitimate,” he said.
The Supreme Court, in its July 1 ruling, left it to Chutkan, an appointee of former Democratic president Barack Obama, to determine what specific presidential actions might not enjoy immunity.
– ‘Electoral dispute’ –
Lauro said a pretrial schedule proposed by prosecutors would be “enormously prejudicial to president Trump.”
He repeatedly noted the looming presidential election but was shut down by Chutkan.
The election calendar is “not relevant,” the judge said, adding that she is “definitely not getting drawn into an electoral dispute.”
Trump’s lawyers have been seeking to delay a trial until after November’s election between Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, and it is virtually certain that it will not be held before the vote.
The hearing lasted for a little over an hour and Chutkan said she would issue a pretrial calendar later in the day.
Thursday’s status conference was the first courtroom appearance by prosecutors and attorneys for the 78-year-old former president since October of last year.
Trump was originally scheduled to go on trial on March 4, but that was put on hold while his lawyers pushed his immunity claim up to the Supreme Court.
The new indictment retains the same core as the original one, stating that Trump lost in 2020 but “was determined to remain in power” and attempted to subvert the results of the election.
Trump is accused of conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding — the January 6, 2021, joint session of Congress that was violently attacked by Trump supporters.
Trump is also accused of seeking to disenfranchise US voters with his false claims that he won the 2020 election.
Trump was convicted in New York in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels, who alleged she had a sexual encounter with the real estate tycoon.
Sentencing in that case has been scheduled for September 18, but Trump’s lawyers have asked for his conviction to be tossed, citing the Supreme Court immunity ruling.
Trump also faces charges in Georgia related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
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