United States – U. S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan has set the pretrial conference for August 16 in the U. S. criminal case against Donald Trump for alleged efforts to coup and subvert his loss in the 2020 election, according to the filed document on Saturday.
August 16 Conference
Chutkan’s order comes a day after she restored jurisdiction over the case, which had been suspended for about eight months, to enable Trump to have his presidential immunity petition decided.
Supreme Court’s Ruling on Immunity
She is expected to determine within the next weeks which aspects of the indictment procured by Special Counsel Jack Smith should be dismissed following the Supreme Court’s ruling that former presidents are immune to all federal actions taken during their tenure.
Trump’s Charges and Legal Motions
Donald Trump has denied charges of four criminal charges detailing a multi-step scheme to prevent him from losing the 2020 Presidency.
On Saturday, Chutkan stated in a filing for the US District Court that Trump will not have to attend the status conference on August 16. All the parties submitted preliminary scheduling orders for pretrial motions by August 9.
Trump’s lawyer was unable to response.
Chutkan also dismissed two of Trump’s motions to dismiss the charges made against him, one was statutory and the other was vindictive and selective prosecution.
She spoke of Trump potentially filing a renewed motion after all issues of immunity had been determined.
The Supreme Court’s decision to hear the immunity claim when it immediately closed the arguments in April and its ruling on July 1 made it virtually impossible for the criminal case to go to trial before the November 5 US presidential election.
Impact on Trial Timing
Chutkan has previously threatened to find about 90 days for Trump to prepare for trial once the case comes back to her court. The trial will take about six to eight weeks.
Political Context
Trump, the first ex-president of the United States to face a criminal trial, is the Republican presidential candidate. On Friday, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris guaranteed the delegate votes necessary to formally secure the Democratic presidential nomination.