Donald Trump’s legal battle over allegations that he conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election takes a significant step forward on Thursday with a status conference in a Washington D.C. courtroom. While the former president will be formally arraigned during the hearing, a trial is highly unlikely to occur before the November election. Trump, who has waived his right to appear in person, will have his attorneys enter a not guilty plea.
The case stems from a superseding indictment filed by Special Counsel Jack Smith last week, charging the 78-year-old Trump with attempting to subvert the election results he lost to Democrat Joe Biden. The indictment, which maintains the same four charges from an earlier version, takes into account a recent Supreme Court ruling that a former president enjoys broad immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts conducted while in office. However, the ruling leaves room for prosecution of unofficial acts. The Supreme Court’s decision in July, which addressed the immunity argument raised by Trump’s legal team, effectively put a hold on the trial originally scheduled for March 4.
This Thursday’s status conference marks the first courtroom appearance by Smith and Trump’s attorneys since the case was returned to Judge Tanya Chutkan, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, a month ago. A key issue at play is the timing of any trial. Trump’s lawyers have proposed delaying the trial until after the 2024 election, pushing any pretrial arguments even further into the future – until after the next president takes office in January 2025. Smith, while not proposing a specific timetable, has stated his willingness to submit written arguments on the question of presidential immunity whenever the court requests them and has asked that this issue be given priority.
The Supreme Court ruling left it to Judge Chutkan to determine which specific presidential actions might fall under the immunity umbrella. Smith has argued that some of Trump’s post-election actions were not part of his official functions. He plans to demonstrate that these actions constitute “private electioneering activity” that falls outside the realm of official presidential duties, thereby weakening the presumption of immunity.
Trump is facing charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding – specifically the January 6, 2021 joint session of Congress that was attacked by Trump supporters – and disenfranchising voters through his false claims of election victory.
These charges come on top of a separate conviction in May in New York, where Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. Sentencing in that case is scheduled for September 18, though Trump’s lawyers have sought to have the conviction overturned, again citing the Supreme Court immunity ruling. Trump also faces charges in Georgia connected to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
