Trump’s Federal Election Trial Postponed Indefinitely by Judge

The judge overseeing the former president’s election trial postponed it Friday.

Former President Donald Trump sits in New York State Supreme Court during a civil fraud trial against the Trump Organization, in New York City, on Jan. 11, 2024. Peter Foley/AFP via Getty Images

The trial date in the election interference case against former President Donald Trump was postponed, the federal judge overseeing the case confirmed on Friday.

“The court will set a new schedule if and when the mandate is returned,” U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan wrote in the order, handing a victory to the former president as he appeals the case on arguments that he was immune from prosecution.

More than 50 days have passed since Judge Chutkan paused the case amid the former president’s appeal to the D.C. Court of Appeals. Over the past several weeks, she has signaled that the initial March 4 trial date would not hold.

The judge on Friday also wrote that prospective jurors who were asked to appear in court in the coming days won’t have to fill out a written questionnaire.

Special prosecutor Jack Smith tried to block the delay by asking the U.S. Supreme Court to quickly issue a decision on whether President Trump is protected by presidential immunity in the election case. But the high court rejected the special counsel’s request, sending the case back to the D.C. Court of Appeals.

It’s not clear when the D.C. appeals court will render its decision, while legal analysts have previously said that the case might very well be pushed back until after the November election. A three-judge panel for the court heard oral arguments over the immunity case in early January.

His lawyers, in their appeal to the D.C. court, have said that the former president is immune from prosecution because the activity after the 2020 election was carried out in his official capacity as president. Depending on the outcome of that appeal, President Trump may appeal that case ultimately to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The lawyers also asserted that he shouldn’t face criminal charges because he wasn’t convicted in the Senate during his second impeachment trial over his activity after the 2020 election and for the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Mr. Smith’s team charged President Trump with four counts, including conspiring to defraud the United States and to obstruct an official proceeding. He has pleaded not guilty, saying the case is motivated by a political animus against him that’s designed to upend his 2024 presidential campaign.

Other Cases

The former president still faces another trial in New York in March on state criminal charges related to alleged hush money payments he made during the 2016 election. He also faces charges in Florida for allegedly retaining classified documents after leaving the White House and in Georgia, where he faces state charges related to the election.

In December, Manhattan District Attorney Bragg said he could not predict the timing of the Trump case as few court motions and filings have been made over the past several months. “We have not forgotten about it,” Mr. Bragg, a Democrat, said. “We are at the ready with our team that’s got more than 100 years of experience working.”

In the documents case, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon has signaled that she might re-schedule the trial date during an upcoming hearing. Still, the trial date is currently scheduled for May.

Meanwhile, the judge overseeing the Fulton County, Georgia, case has not yet set a date for a trial, which could include more than more than a dozen other co-defendants.

However, the district attorney for Fulton County, Fani Willis, has faced problems of her own after one of the Trump co-defendants last month accused her of engaging in an improper relationship with her special prosecutor in the Trump case, Nathan Wade. His court motion also accused Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade of allegedly using taxpayer funds to go on vacations while they were romantically involved.

During a court hearing on Friday, she admitted the two were involved in a relationship in court papers. The Fulton County judge, Scott McAfee, set a Feb. 15 hearing on the matter.

Prior DC Activity

In January, Judge Chutkan signaled for a second time that there was a chance the Trump trial date would likely be postponed to a later date. In a case involving a Jan. 6 defendant, she scheduled a trial for that individual for early April.

Special prosecutor Jack Smith, who brought the charges against the former president, has said that President Trump’s trial will likely take four to six weeks to complete, meaning that the March 4 date will very likely push up against or even conflict with the Jan. 6 defendant’s trial.

Weeks before that order, the U.S. district judge wrote that the March 4 date was meant to provide both the Trump team and the Smith team with more time to prepare. She also adopted President Trump’s lawyers’ recommendations to prevent both the defense and prosecution from issuing new “further substantive pretrial motions without first seeking leave from the court” and that the former president “forfeits no arguments or rights by choosing not to respond at this time.”