Jack Smith Derails Trump’s Effort To Delay His 1/6 Trial

Jack Smith speaks about Trump 2020 election indictment.

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Last updated on September 1st, 2024 at 12:12 pm

A late-night joint status report showed that Donald Trump is trying to delay his federal 1/6 trial until the Spring-Fall of 2025, but Special Counsel Jack Smith has other ideas.

The Special Counsel wrote in the joint status report:

The defendant also intends to file a motion to dismiss the superseding indictment on the basis that the grand jury that returned it was exposed to immunized conduct. Because consideration of that motion would require the Court in the first instance to make the very determinations described above, the Government believes that the Court should consider the defendant’s grand jury claim only after conducting the fact- and context-specific analysis of whether the superseding indictment contains immunized conduct.

To do otherwise would be inefficient for this Court because it would entail successive rounds of immunity determinations and would pose the risk of multiple rounds of interlocutory appellate review, one after each set of the Court’s immunity determinations. The Government is prepared to file its opening immunity brief promptly at any time the Court deems appropriate.

• Other Motions. The defendant plans to file additional motions to dismiss. The Court has indicated that it will conduct its immunity determinations before resolving other issues. See, e.g., ECF No. 197. The Government notes that it may promote judicial economy for the Court to schedule briefing of all other Rule 12 motions concurrent with the immunity litigation. That way, all motions will be fully briefed, and the Court can later determine when to take them under consideration. If the Court sets a deadline for the defendant’s other Rule 12 motions, the Government requests that the Court set the same date for the defendant’s opening briefs as for the Government’s opening immunity brief, followed by parallel opposition and reply deadlines.

The defendant’s proposed schedule also contemplates a separate deadline and motions practice regarding discovery. The Government does not see a reason to delay immunity determinations and other pretrial litigation to separately address the defense’s pending or proposed discovery motions.

The Trump defense team argued that it would take a very long time to get through all of the procedural motions, so they will need at least a year before the trial can proceed. Jack Smith isn’t playing any of those games, so the Special Counsel wants a more compressed schedule that will allow the case to move forward as quickly as possible.

Judge Chutkan has already signaled that she wants to move forward quickly, so of the two proposed schedules, it is a safe bet that the Special Counsel’s proposed schedule will be chosen and Trump’s latest effort to delay will go down in flames.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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