Trump January 6 Trial Taken Off Court Calendar, Indefinitely Postponed
Former president Donald Trump’s March 4 trial date on charges of plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election has been dropped from the public calendar of the federal court in Washington, a sign of what has long been anticipated — that his claim of presidential immunity from criminal prosecution would delay his trial while it remains on appeal.
. . . As of at least Thursday, the March 4 trial date was dropped from a date-searchable calendar on the public website of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. It was not immediately clear when it was removed. An internal master court trial calendar distributed Jan. 26 showed Trump’s trial date, suggesting the change was recent, according to a federal official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an internal document.
Chutkan also has acknowledged that Trump’s March trial was off. On Jan. 24, for example, Chutkan scheduled a new trial for April 2, when Trump’s projected six- to eight-week trial would have been ongoing. On Wednesday, Chutkan set a March 18 hearing for another defendant, saying, “I suspect in March I will not be in trial.”
Chutkan’s next trial is set for July 2. The judge set that date in December, a sign that she believed Trump’s trial would be over by then.
On Sunday, I noted the increasing concern that the DC appeals court had not issued an expected quick rebuff of Trump's appeal. The Post concludes,
But since Trump’s appeal paused his case, Chutkan has no authority to set a new trial schedule or impose other burdens or deadlines on the defense until higher courts respond. Chutkan has also made clear that if and when she gets the green light to set a new date, she would not set shorter deadlines that would require Trump’s attorneys to make up for lost time, suggesting the trial would be pushed back weeks if not months.
The concern at the appeals court's delay has only been building. From Politico on Wednesday, before the news of the case's disappearance from the court calendar:
Whether Donald Trump faces a potential prison sentence in 2024 is at the mercy of a federal appeals court that’s operating on its own schedule — at a time when every day matters.
More than 50 days have elapsed since Trump’s criminal proceedings in a Washington, D.C., trial court — on charges for attempting to subvert the 2020 election — were paused indefinitely. They won’t resume until the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and, most likely, the Supreme Court resolve the question hanging over the entire case: whether Trump, as a former president, is immune from criminal prosecution.
. . . Lengthy delays in his federal criminal cases create the possibility that, if he wins the presidency this November, Trump could avoid the charges altogether by having the Justice Department end the prosecutions or perhaps even by pardoning himself.
The original lawfare strategy, which appears to have been finalized in mid-2023, relied on the New York civil cases to establsih Trump as a fraudster, rapist, and slanderer, with the January 6 case going to trial on March 4, the day before Super Tuesday. The intent appears to have been to knock Trump out as a general election candidate in the Republican primaries, but so far, it appears that the New York cases haven't been taken seriously by the electorate, given the bizarre figures like Judge Engoron and E Jean Carroll who've emerged, while disappointing performances by all of Trump's Republican primary opponents have put that contest out of reach well before March 4, with that particular trial now postponed to the indefinite future.In fact, as I noted on Sunday, much more delay from the DC appeals court means that even if it does issue a stern rebuke to Trump in coming days or weeks, Trump will appeal to the US Supreme Court, but the court will likely not take up the case before its summer break, almost certainly pushing the trial past the November election even if the Supreme Court eventually also rejects Trump's argument.
My spidey sense, though, also tells me that even the DC appeals panel, whatever their political loyalties, feels deeply uncomfortable about being stampeded into a quick decision to achieve a limited political goal, and the refusal of the US Supreme Court to hear the case on an expedited basis already reflects a judicial instinct not to be rushed into a decision on such a momentous issue.
But this whole question leaves out the separate issue of District Attorney Willis's problems in the Fulton County RICO trial. Again, the lawfare strategy appears to have had an inchoate goal of somehow getting Trump into a prison cell, or at least convicted of a conspiracy, before the November election. The difficulty is that, as with the New York civil trials, even if Willis and Wade manage to hold onto their posiitons and continue the prosecution, the proceedings will turn out to be too farcical to carry much credibility with the electorate.
As far as anyone can tell, the lawfare strategy was going to be a centerpiece of Biden's reelection campaign. Right now, it appears not just to be collapsing, but degenerating into slapstick.
UPDATE: Via Just the News:
U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan on Friday officially suspended former President Donald Trump's March 4 trial in special counsel Jack Smith's election case, The Hill reported.
