Prosecutors and Trump team argue over further steps in election case – Firstpost

According to jointly filed briefs, there are disagreements between the prosecutor accusing Donald Trump of election interference and the former president's lawyers about how to proceed in the case.

The Trump side proposed a timetable in a motion filed late Friday with federal judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington that would delay all pretrial negotiations not just beyond the November election but until after the next president takes office in January 2025.

Trump's lawyers expressed confidence that they would be able to get the charges against the Republican candidate dismissed before they go to trial.

On the prosecution side, Special Counsel Jack Smith did not offer a specific timeline but said he would be prepared to submit written arguments on the issue of presidential immunity whenever the court requests them. He asked that the issue be given priority.

Chutkan had asked both sides to propose a plan to resolve the outstanding issues after the conservative-dominated Supreme Court ruled that presidents presumably enjoy immunity from prosecution for official acts.

Earlier in the week, Smith revised his original indictment in a carefully orchestrated attempt to bring the allegations into line with the Supreme Court ruling.

Some elements of the original indictment were dropped, but the core charges remained, alleging that Trump lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden but was “determined to hold on to power” and attempted to rig the outcome.

In its July 1 ruling, the Supreme Court left it to Chutkan to determine which specific presidential actions might not be covered by immunity.

“Great importance”

In the motion filed Friday, Smith said he would demonstrate that some of Trump's actions after the 2020 election were not part of his official duties in order to “distinguish his private campaign activities from official acts and rebut the presumption of immunity.”

The prosecutor asked Chutkan to consider the immunity issue before any other issues, including the various arguments put forward by Trump's lawyers for dismissing the charges.

Trump's lawyers said the arguments for dismissal must take priority, stressing that resolving these issues would “take significant time and resources, commensurate with their 'unprecedented and momentous' importance.”

They added: “The court should take all possible, reasonable steps to resolve the case on legal grounds before allowing an intrusive public investigation into President Trump's official conduct while in office.”

Trump is accused of conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding – the joint session of Congress on January 6, 2021, which was violently attacked by Trump supporters.

Trump is also accused of attempting to disenfranchise US voters with his campaign, in which he spread false claims that he won the 2020 election.