U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled Friday that special counsel Jack Smith has until Dec. 2 to decide how the prosecution will proceed in its 2020 election interference case against President-elect Donald Trump.
The decision came three days after Trump secured a landslide victory in the Electoral College during Tuesday's presidential election.
Smith filed a motion Friday requesting time to figure out how his team should move forward in the case that alleges Trump tried to overturn the 2020 presidential election outcome.
"The Government respectfully requests that the Court vacate the remaining deadlines in the pretrial schedule to afford the Government time to access this unprecedented circumstance and determine the appropriate course going forward consistent with the Department of Justice policy," Smith wrote in his court filing.
Smith added that he will file "a status report or otherwise" by Dec. 2, and that Trump's counsel agreed to the request.
Smith charged Trump last year with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and illegally hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate. But Trump's election defeat of Kamala Harris means that the Justice Department believes he can no longer face prosecution in accordance with department legal opinions meant to shield presidents from criminal charges while in office.
As recently as last month, Trump said he would fire Smith "within two seconds" of taking office.
If Smith chooses to end his prosecution, it will mean Trump would enter the White House without the legal cloud of federal criminal prosecutions that once carried the potential for felony convictions and prison sentences.
Smith's two cases charge Trump in a conspiracy to undo the election results in the run-up to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, and with retaining top secret records at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and obstructing FBI efforts to recover them. He was appointed to the position in November 2022 by Attorney General Merrick Garland.
The classified documents case has been stalled since July when a Trump-appointed judge, Aileen Cannon, dismissed it on grounds that Smith was illegally appointed. Smith has appealed to the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where the request to revive the case is pending.
Even as Smith looks to withdraw the documents case against Trump, he would seem likely to continue to challenge Cannon's ruling on the legality of his appointment, given the precedent such a ruling would create.
In the 2020 election interference case, Trump was scheduled to stand trial in March in Washington.
The Supreme Court in July granted former presidents expansive immunity from prosecution for acts taken in the White House and explicitly put off-limits any alleged conduct involving Trump's discussions with the DOJ.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.