Judge Tanya S. Chutkan told the former president’s lawyers that she is “not concerned with the electoral schedule”
It’s not fair, legal counsel for Donald Trump told a federal judge on Thursday. The former president’s election interference case — which could have gone to trial this spring had it not been for litigation over the Republican candidate’s claim he was completely immune from prosecution — is starting back up again just as early voting is about to begin. While ballots are being cast, prosecutors could air new, potentially damning evidence about the defendant’s efforts to remain in power.
So what, U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan responded. Her only concern, she said, is the crimes that special counsel Jack Smith, armed with a fresh grand jury indictment, has accused the 78-year-old defendant of committing: defrauding the United States and seeking to throw out the votes of millions of Americans after decisively losing to President Joe Biden in 2020.
“This court is not concerned with the electoral schedule,” she told defense lawyer John Lauro, MSNBC legal analyst Katie Phang reported from the courtroom in Washington, DC. “I am definitely not getting drawn into an election dispute.”
As former prosecutor Andrew Weissmann observed, Chutkan here is treating Trump “like any other defendant,” upholding the principle of equality before the law.
