The federal trial of former president Donald Trump for obstructing the 2020 election has been moved from its original start date to a private date.
The trial was originally set for March 4 by the case’s presiding judge, Tanya Chutkan. In response to Special Counsel Jack Smith’s probe into the events leading up to the attack on January 6, Trump has pleaded not guilty to four counts.
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Although most anticipated that the case would begin later than anticipated, given that the D.C. The Court will determine whether or not Trump should be spared prosecution because the allegations against him are related to his tenure in office.
As we wait for the appeals court’s ruling, the former president’s case remains unresolved. Even after hearing arguments on January 9, it’s still unclear if he can dismiss Smith’s case by claiming absolute immunity.
The federal court in Washington, D.C. has now revealed that the trial date of March 4 has been removed from its public calendar, as first reported by The Washington Post. It appears from this administrative action that the trial will be put on hold while the immunity appeal is being handled.
“Donald Trump’s March 4 trial on election fraud charges has been dropped from the court calendar. In December, Judge Tanya Chutkan agreed to freeze the case while Trump appealed the indictment on presidential immunity grounds. Its removal from the court calendar signals that the case will likely not begin for several more months, pushing it closer to the presidential election in November. The Washington, D.C., Court of Appeals is now considering the case, and it will likely go to the U.S. Supreme Court after that,” Newsweek reported.
When word leaked out on social media that the trial date had been removed from the public calendar, political figures quickly conjectured that the case would be dismissed.
In response, Bill Shipley, an attorney for defendants charged with taking part in the Capitol riot, said it was “idiotic” to think Smith’s case would be dismissed.
“Tomorrow was the day the Juror questionnaires were supposed to be returned to the Court by prospective jurors and given to the parties. Was a questionnaire ever prepared? No—the case has been stayed. So no questionnaires will be received,” Shipley posted on X.
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“One of the first questions is ‘Do you have any plans that would make it impossible for you to be a juror from March 3 to May 3?’ Well, you can’t send that out until you know what the start date will be,” he added. “So all you supposedly ‘in the know’ X-sters, just stop posting nonsensical conspiracy theories about why the Court—NOT JACK SMITH—removed the trial from the March 4 calendar.”
According to The Post, Chutkan recently announced, “I suspect in March I will not be in trial,” when setting a hearing date for a defendant in a separate case for March 18.
She filed court documents on January 18 to prevent Smith’s team from submitting any motions while the immunity appeal is being considered.
Chutkan granted the former president’s attorneys seven months to prepare for the trial, but she made it plain that this period would not be taken into account while the case is suspended.
“Contrary to the defendant’s assertion, the court has not and will not set deadlines in this case based on the assumption that he has undertaken preparations when not required to do so,” Chutkan wrote.
Nothing would come to trial in any of Trump’s four criminal cases before the election, according to a former federal prosecutor’s prediction last week.
“I have stated, pretty much from the beginning, that I did not believe any of the cases would be tried prior to the election in November. Democrats and Biden are eager for one of the four criminal cases against Trump to proceed to trial. Regardless of the strength of the evidence or the cases, convictions are almost guaranteed given their locations, according to Bill Shipley, a former federal prosecutor who worked for 22 years before representing more than 20 of the January 6 defendants as a private attorney.
