Federal prosecutors filed a motion Friday seeking more time to determine how to proceed in President-elect Donald Trump’s election interference case.
Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team said that Trump’s victory on Tuesday over Vice President Kamala Harris required more time for a decision.
“The Government respectfully requests that the Court vacate the remaining deadlines in the pretrial schedule to afford the Government time to assess this unprecedented circumstance and determine the appropriate course going forward consistent with Department of Justice policy,” prosecutors wrote in the single-page motion.
Trump’s team didn’t oppose Smith’s motion. Judge Tanya Chutkan granted the motion Friday, vacating all remaining deadlines in the pretrial schedule. She also ordered prosecutors to file a status report on how they plan to proceed by Dec. 2.
Trump pleaded not guilty last year to federal charges that he engaged in a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election. In September, Trump again pleaded not guilty to a superseding indictment that was changed to address the U.S. Supreme Court’s July ruling on presidential immunity.
Smith and Trump’s defense team have remained at odds over how the case should proceed after the Supreme Court ruling found that presidents are protected from prosecution for official acts while in office. The high court ruled that presidents and former presidents of the United States have “absolute immunity” when acting on core constitutional duties and “presumptive immunity” on other matters. The court said unofficial acts are not protected.
Under U.S. Department of Justice policy, a sitting president can’t be prosecuted.
In addition to the federal case in Washington D.C., Smith has appealed a Florida judge’s decision to dismiss a case that accused Trump of mishandling classified documents.
Trump also faces two state cases, one in Georgia alleging election interference and another in New York, where a jury convicted Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records for disguising hush money payments to an adult film actress as legal costs ahead of the 2016 election. Under New York state law, falsifying business records in the first degree is a Class E felony with a maximum sentence of four years in prison.
Judge Juan Merchan is expected to decide Tuesday if the hush money case will be dismissed.
