Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to his supporters in front of Trump Tower in the New York borough of Manhattan on January 26, 2024, as he heads to his second civil trial after E. Jean Carroll accused Trump of raping her decades ago.
Eduardo Munoz | Reuters
A judge on Friday indefinitely postponed former President Donald Trump’s election interference criminal trial, which was scheduled to begin March 4 in U.S. District Court in Washington, DC
The postponement is the result of a pending appeal by Trump challenging the U.S. Justice Department’s right to indict him in the case accusing him of illegally trying to overturn his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden.
Trump says he enjoys presidential immunity from prosecution because the alleged crimes relate to actions he committed while still in the White House.
That appeal remains to be decided by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Trump will certainly ask the Supreme Court to hear his appeal if the district court rules against him, as will special counsel Jack Smith if the appeals court rules against this prosecutor.
If the Supreme Court accepts an appeal on the matter, it could take longer than March 4 to decide the decision.
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Judge Tanya Chutkan’s decision to postpone Trump’s trial in Washington could clear the way for him to stand trial in another criminal case in New York starting in late March.
He is accused in the Manhattan Supreme Court case of falsifying business records related to a hush-money payment that his then-personal attorney Michael Cohen made to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.
Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, is being charged separately in two other criminal cases.
He is being charged by Smith in federal court in Florida with crimes related to the retention of secret government records after he left office and obstructing officials’ efforts to restore those records.
He also faces conspiracy charges in state court in Atlanta for attempting to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden in Georgia.
Trump has pleaded not guilty in all of his criminal cases.
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2024-02-02 21:44:36
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