Judge postpones Trump’s trial scheduled for March for trying to steal the election without a date International

The trial disappeared from the federal court calendar in Washington, but official confirmation came this Friday. Judge Tanya Chutkan has indefinitely postponed Donald Trump’s trial for trying to change the results of the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden. It was fixed on 4 March. This was the first date when the former president was to appear in court in the criminal case of the four in which they are accused of a total of 91 offences.

The process was paralyzed and time was running out. Trump’s lawyers go a bit further than their usual strategy of delaying the proceedings. They told the judge in the case that the former president received immunity for his actions while occupying the White House. Judge Chutak rejected that motion to dismiss the case in a harsh order in which she said being president “does not provide a lifetime get-out-of-jail-free pass.”

Trump’s lawyers appealed to the Washington Court of Appeals. Normally, an appeal does not paralyze the process of a case, but in this case it did, because what is at stake is the essence of whether or not the former president can be indicted.

Special prosecutor Jack Smith asked the Supreme Court to take action on the matter to buy time, but the justices chose to continue the case. At the hearing before the Court of Appeals, in which Trump voluntarily appeared, his lawyer also argued that, unless Congress itself impeached him, the president should enjoy immunity from court for all crimes committed during his tenure. Even if he specifically ordered to kill a political rival.

A court of appeals judges was unimpressed by those arguments, but they have yet to issue their ruling. Even if he rejects the appeal, Trump could still go to the Supreme Court, which would likely accept the case and set a date for an oral hearing. All this delayed the process, so the possibility of the trial starting on March 4 was already a chimera.

Chutak set the trial’s opening date for March 4, 2024, the eve of Super Tuesday, the day most delegates are elected in the presidential primaries. In the charge sheet in the case, which was Trump’s third indictment, prosecutors charged him with four counts: conspiracy to defraud the US government, conspiracy to obstruct official proceedings, obstruction or attempted obstruction of official proceedings, and conspiracy to defraud. Civil rights. Trump has maintained that the election was stolen from him, but prosecutors are not accusing him of this massive baseless fraud, but of his actions to alter the results and prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s victory.

Join EL PAÍS to follow all the news and read without limits.

Subscribe

Trump is trying to delay his criminal cases while prosecutors seek to put him in front of a jury before the November election. If Trump is elected while the case is pending, he could try to get the Justice Department to drop it or pardon himself.

The delay in Washington’s trial paves the way for his first indictment for commercial lying in payments to cover up scandals in the 2016 presidential campaign (among them porn actress Stormi Daniels, to hush up an alleged extramarital affair).

It is initially scheduled for five weeks beginning on March 25, 2024 before a New York State court. Chutkan spoke to the New York judge, warning him that a postponement might be necessary if the Washington trial began, but there was none. A long case. Trump is due back in that New York court on February 15 for a preliminary hearing in which final details are expected to be finalized. Everything indicates that the case will start on time. Trump’s lawyers and prosecutors are discussing the jury selection process with the judge and some witnesses have been asked to be prepared to testify.

Follow all international information on Facebook And xor in Our weekly newsletter.