The federal election interference case against Donald Trump inched forward Thursday, with a judge permitting prosecutors to file court documents later this month that could detail unflattering allegations about the former president as the Republican nominee enters the final weeks of his White House run.
The order came hours after a court hearing, the first in the case in nearly a year, in which U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan sparred with a Trump lawyer who accused the government of trying to rush ahead with an “illegitimate” indictment in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election. Chutkan made clear she would not let the upcoming election affect how she proceeds, turning aside defense efforts to delay the process while also acknowledging that the case is nowhere close to a trial date.
"There’s no rush to judgment here,” Chutkan said.
Prosecutors and defense lawyers are at odds over the next steps in the case after the Supreme Court narrowed the scope of the prosecution by ruling that former presidents are entitled to broad immunity from criminal charges. The dueling proposals and testy courtroom exchanges Thursday reflected the extent to which the justices’ July opinion had upended the path of the case that charges Trump with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the run-up to the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
By day's end, she permitted prosecutors to file by Sept. 26 a legal brief that could include fresh details about Trump's alleged efforts to cling to power four years ago. The brief is meant to defend a revised, and stripped-down, Trump indictment that special counsel Jack Smith's team filed last week to comply with the Supreme Court's immunity opinion. The filing is expected to include detailed allegations from the investigation, said Thomas Windom, a member of Smith's team.
Trump lawyer John Lauro objected to the filing of the brief before the defense team has had a chance to seek the indictment's dismissal — and during the “sensitive time” before the election.
“This process is inherently inherently unfair, particularly during this sensitive time that we're in,” Lauro said.
That comment drew a rebuke from Chutkan, who said that the timing of the election was “not relevant” to how the case should proceed.
“This court is not concerned with the electoral schedule,” the judge said. At another point, she suggested that the defense was trying to delay the case because of the forthcoming election, cautioning, “That’s not going to be a factor I consider at all.”
The new indictment filed by Smith's team last week removed allegations related to Trump's attempts to use the Justice Department's law enforcement powers to undo the election results, conduct for which the Supreme Court said he enjoyed immunity. But the Trump team believes the new indictment did not go far enough to comply with the 6-3 ruling, in part because it left intact allegations that Trump badgered his vice president, Mike Pence, to refuse to certify the counting of the electoral votes, Lauro said.
"We may be dealing with an illegitimate indictment from the get-go,” Lauro said.