WASHINGTON: The prosecutor pursuing US election interference charges against Donald Trump and the former president’s lawyers have clashed over next steps in the case, according to jointly filed briefs.

The Trump side, in a filing late on Friday to federal judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington, proposed a calendar that would push any pretrial arguments not just past the November election but until after the next president takes office, in January 2025.

Trump’s lawyers expressed confidence that they would, in any case, be able to get the charges against the Republican nominee thrown out before the matter comes to trial.

On the prosecution side, Special Counsel Jack Smith did not propose a specific timetable but said he would be ready to offer written arguments on the question of presidential immunity whenever the court requested them — and asked that that issue be given priority.

The former president is accused of conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding

Chutkan had asked each side to propose a plan to resolve outstanding issues after the conservative-dominated Supreme Court ruled that presidents have a presumption of immunity from prosecution for official acts.

Earlier in the week, Smith had revised his initial indictment in a carefully tailored effort to bring the charges in line with that Supreme Court ruling. Some elements of the original indictment were dropped, though the core charges remained, stating that Trump lost the election to Joe Biden in 2020 but “was determined to remain in power” and attempted to subvert the results.

The Supreme Court, in its July 1 ruling, left it to Chutkan to determine what specific presidential actions might not enjoy immunity.

‘Momentous importance’

Smith, in Friday’s filing, said he would demonstrate that some of Trump’s acts after the 2020 election were not part of his official functions, to “distinguish his private electioneering activity from official action, and rebut the presumption of immunity.” The prosecutor asked Chutkan to examine the immunity question before all other issues, including the Trump lawyers’ various arguments for dismissal of charges.

Trump’s attorneys said the arguments for dismissal should get priority, stressing that sorting through those issues would “take considerable time and resources, commensurate with their ‘unprecedented and momentous’ importance.” They added: “The Court should take every reasonable step possible to resolve the case on legal grounds, before permitting an invasive public inquiry regarding President Trump’s official conduct while in office.” 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 campaign of false claims that he won the 2020 election.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2024