The response from the Obama-appointed judge overseeing the former president’s Jan. 6 case included a concerted effort to “move as quickly as humanly possible.”
“She intended to hit the ground running…and so she has.”
Friday, jurisdiction over former President Donald Trump’s alleged federal election interference case returned to U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan. A month after the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling on presidential immunity, she appeared to waste no time making orders of her own as she set a series of prompt deadlines and denied dismissal requests within a day’s time.
“Criminal cases usually never move this quickly, especially something of this complexity,” South Texas College of Law Houston professor Josh Blackman told the Washington Examiner. “She was just sitting, waiting for the mandate to come, and she acted right away. She wants to move as quickly as humanly possible.”
A one-page order issued Saturday set a status conference for Aug. 16 with the expectation that by Aug. 9 the prosecution and the defense ought to have conferred and filed their proposed schedule for pretrial proceedings. That same order also stayed two briefing deadlines and, regarding a denied motion to dismiss on statutory grounds, indicated, “Defendant may file a renewed motion once all issues of immunity have been resolved.”
DJT – DC – Status Conferenc… by Susie Moore
Additionally, Chutkan denied Trump’s motion to dismiss the four felony counts over a claim of “Selective and Vindictive Prosecution” in a 16-page opinion that, in part, argued the defense had not provided evidence “that the prosecutorial team ‘upp[ed] the ante’ by filing ‘increased charges in order to retaliate against’ [Trump] in response to his public criticism of the 2020 election, President Biden and his relatives, and the Special Counsel.”
Judge Chutkan Rejects Trump… by Brett Meiselas
Sounding off in an op-ed for National Review, former Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew McCarthy argued, “She intended to hit the ground running once the Supreme Court transferred the case back to her — and so she has.”
McCarthy suspected that, based on D.C. circuit court precedent rather than the decision by Judge Aileen Cannon, Chutkan was likely to dismiss an expected motion from Trump regarding a violation of the appointments clause seeking to dismiss over designating Jack Smith as special counsel.
“There are now too many obstacles for the anti-Trump lawfare crusade to exact the damage Democrats hoped to inflict on Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.”
He concluded, “Despite the best efforts of the judge and the prosecutor, there is no practical possibility of a trial of Trump prior to the inauguration of the next president on January 20, 2025, much less prior to the 2024 election. They can try to revive lawfare, but as a Democratic campaign strategy, it is a spent force.”
Meanwhile, Blackman addressed the possibility that, even if Smith opted against reducing the charges on Trump as a result of being unable to introduce evidence because of immunity, Chutkan could make that decision herself, “I think what she’s wrestling with is whether to go forward with a more skinny trial, just some of the claims, versus the entire kit and caboodle.”
Ultimately, he contended it should be her objective to avoid impacting public opinion before Nov. 5 as he said, “It’s not about trying to inform voters. You should do the opposite. You try to not have this [before the election].”
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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