Judge grants special counsel’s request to delay next steps in Trump election interference case

WASHINGTON — US District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Friday approved a request from special counsel Jack Smith to allow for more time to propose the next steps in the government’s election interference case against former President Donald Trump.

The decision came a day after Smith and fellow prosecutors asked the judge to delay the deadline to offer a new timetable in the case until Aug. 30.

Chutkan had given prosecutors and Trump’s legal team until Friday to submit a joint status report including a timeline for pretrial proceedings ahead of a scheduled Aug. 16 status conference.

The special counsel’s office said in its filing Thursday that prosecutors are still assessing the “new precedent set forth” in the Trump immunity decision by the Supreme Court.

“Although those consultations are well underway, the Government has not finalized its position on the most appropriate schedule for the parties to brief issues related to the decision,” the special counsel’s office said. “The Government therefore respectfully requests additional time to provide the Court with an informed proposal regarding the schedule for pretrial proceedings moving forward. The defense does not object to the Government’s request for an extension.”

Smith asked Chutkan to give them and Trump’s lawyers until Aug. 30 to submit the joint status report and to schedule the status conference after that. Friday’s order granted that deadline extension and rescheduled the status conference to Sept. 5.

The appeals process made certain that the trial would not happen before Election Day on Nov. 5.

In each of the four criminal cases against Trump, the former president and his legal team have sought to delay proceedings as much as possible in order to run out the clock before the election or get the charges tossed.

Last weekend Chutkan denied an older motion from Trump to dismiss the election interference indictment, filed before the Supreme Court took up the case.