The trial against former President Trump is postponed

2024-02-03 08:52:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

The trial against former President Trump is postponed

Donald Trump

A federal judge formally postponed former President Donald Trump's March trial on charges he tried to overturn the 2020 election, while a major appeal by him remains unanswered in an appeals court. .

Judge Tanya Chutkan canceled the trial scheduled for March 4 in the lawsuit brought by special prosecutor Jack Smith, but did not mention setting a new date.

This postponement already opens the possibility that another trial in New York will continue, with allegations of payments made to win the silence of a porn actress. This is the trial that has been perceived as having the least legal risk, of the four court cases that Mr. Trump is facing, where he is accused, among other things, of the illegal possession and use of classified documents, or the conspiracy to overturn the result of the presidential election. .

The delay in Washington was announced as a federal appeals court has yet to rule on Mr. Trump's request that he enjoy immunity from investigation for actions he took while president. It is not clear when the three-judge panel might rule, but if the ruling is in favor of continuing the prosecutor's investigation, then another appeal from Mr. Trump's legal team is expected, bringing further delays.

For both parties, timing is very important. Former President Trump, who faces four lawsuits and 91 criminal charges, is seeking to delay the court cases while enjoying the status of the front-runner for president in the race within the Republican Party. Meanwhile, the Smith prosecutor's team hopes to complete a process before the November elections. If Mr. Trump is re-elected while the court case continues, he could theoretically direct the Justice Department to drop the charges and could pardon himself.

The Washington court case was expected to be the first to be heard, but was delayed for weeks due to Mr Trump's appeal based on his claim of immunity from investigation, an idea strongly opposed by Mr Smith's prosecution team. The appeals court heard arguments on January 9 and appeared skeptical of the position taken by Mr Trump's lawyer. However, the court has not made a decision, although it stated that it would work quickly.

The judge in the New York case, the first of four indictments brought against Mr. Trump in the past year, has long resisted defense requests to push back the March 25 trial date because of a conflict with a trial date in Washington, thinking the former president's legal calendar could change as the trial date nears.

Mr. Trump will return to court in Manhattan on February 15 for a preliminary hearing where the final details are expected to be worked out. All signs point to the New York case starting on time. Lawyers and prosecutors discussed jury selection procedures with the judge, and several witnesses said they were asked to be ready to testify.

The New York case involves steps Mr. Trump allegedly took to hide payments made on his behalf to avoid damaging stories against him before his 2016 election victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton, thus registering them as legal expenses. A guilty verdict would give Mr Trump another historic designation as the first former president to be convicted of a felony, possibly complicating his campaign to return to the White House. The decision, however, would not make a prison sentence certain.

Critics of Mr. Trump and campaign officials of rival candidates have long criticized the fact that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's indictment came first, believing it helped soften the political fallout of the more serious charges that followed. voters lost interest or were confused by countless cases.

Prosecutor Bragg has avoided calling it a "money to buy silence" case, preferring in recent weeks to describe it as another case of Mr. Trump's "election meddling" — albeit one involving behind-the-scenes maneuvering during the first campaign. of Mr. Trump to the White House in 2016.

Meanwhile, former President Trump faces dozens of felony charges in Florida for illegally keeping classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate. This case is scheduled for trial on May 20, but may be postponed again. Another lawsuit in Georgia, filed by Fulton County District Attorney Fannie Willis, accuses her of conspiring to overturn the outcome of that state's 2020 election. A trial date for the case has not yet been set./VOA