Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty Thursday in the new and streamlined federal Jan. 6 election interference case that was filed after the Supreme Court granted him significant immunity.
U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan accepted the plea from Trump’s lawyers and suggested she plans to consider whether prosecutors can move forward with the still-explosive superseding indictment accusing him of improperly trying to overturn his loss in the 2020 election.
Picking up where she left off months ago, Chutkan chided defense lawyers John Lauro when he sought to delay virtually all proceedings until after the November election between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
“The election is not relevant here,” the judge said sharply. “This court is not concerned with the electoral schedule.”
Chutkan said she would soon issue a scheduling order for the rebooted case. She said it would be an “exercise in futility” to set a trial date because both sides expect any decision on immunity to be appealed to the Supreme Court.
She rejected Lauro’s claim that the Supreme Court ruling requires her to dismiss the new indictment.
The judge also rejected the defense claim that the case should be dismissed because Special Counsel Jack Smith was improperly appointed. She brushed aside U.S District Court Judge Aileen Cannon’s dismissal of his federal classified documents case on those grounds noting that the Washington D.C. circuit has conclusively ruled otherwise.
“Frankly, this court doesn’t find (Cannon’s ruling) particularly persuasive,” Chutkan said.
Prosecutors and defense lawyers also offered dueling proposals for hashing out how the case might proceed after the conservative-dominated court opinion upended the case that seeks to hold Trump accountable for his scheme to stay in power, which culminated with the violent attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Moving to salvage the case, Smith’s team filed a new indictment that stripped out certain allegations against Trump for which the Supreme Court said Trump enjoyed immunity from prosecution, like his interaction with rogue officials at the Justice Department.
Prosecutors want to file within three weeks a legal brief explaining why the new indictment was sound, including Trump’s effort to bully ex-Vice President Mike Pence into joining his so-called Stop the Steal scheme.
But Lauro said such a plan would allow prosecutors to publicly tarnish Trump by seeking to submit a filing before the defense has had a chance to try to dismiss the indictment.
“We may be dealing with an illegitimate indictment from the get-go,” Lauro said. “We want an orderly process that does justice to the Supreme Court opinion.”
The defense said it might make public grand jury testimony it believes supports Trump’s innocence, raising the prospect of a “mini-trial” over Trump’s actions, potentially before the November vote.
Despite the pointed back-and-forth, Chutkan started the hearing on a friendly note, telling Lauro he looked “rested” after the long break in proceedings.
Lauro joked to the judge, “life was almost meaningless without seeing you.”
“Enjoy it while it lasts,” Chutkan responded wryly.
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