By The opinion
The federal judge presiding over the federal case of interference in the 2020 elections against the former president Donald Trump presented by the Special Prosecutor Jack Smith On Saturday, he rejected a defense attempt to dismiss the charge. The Associated Press reported that the former president was prosecuted for vindictive and political purposes.
The ruling by federal judge for the District of Columbia Tanya Chutkan is the first substantial order since the case was remanded to him on Friday following a landmark Supreme Court opinion last month that granted sweeping immunity to former presidents and narrowed special counsel Jack Smith’s case against Trump.
Washington DC federal judge Tanya Chutkan on Friday regained control of the criminal case against former President Donald Trump for his attempts to overturn the 2020 election, leaving the fate of the landmark case in their hands less than 100 days before the November elections.
Judge Chutkan on Saturday set the hearing date for August 16 in Washington.after the Supreme Court returned control of the case to it on Friday.
Defense attorneys argued in their motion to dismiss the indictment that Trump was mistreated because he was prosecuted even though others who have challenged the election results have avoided criminal charges.
Trump, the Republican candidate in the 2024 presidential race, also suggested that President Joe Biden and the Justice Department have launched legal proceedings to prevent him from winning re-election.
But Chutkan rejected both argumentssaying Trump was impeached not simply for challenging the election results, but for “knowingly making false statements in furtherance of criminal conspiracies and obstructing election certification proceedings.”
He also said his lawyers had misinterpreted media articles they had cited in arguing that the proceedings were political in nature.
Trump faces trial in a Washington DC court in this case for his alleged efforts to block the results of Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.
The four-count indictment, filed in August 2023 by special counsel Jack Smith, accuses Trump of conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost to Biden through a variety of schemes, including pressuring his vice president, Mike Pence, to block the formal certification of electoral votes. Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Trump’s lawyers argued that He was immune from prosecution as a former presidentand the case has been on hold since December as his appeal wound its way through the courts, culminating in the Supreme Court ruling last month that presidents have broad immunity from prosecution.
Chutkan must now decide which of Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election while he was president can be processed.
Keep reading:
• What Trump’s partial immunity means and how it can affect the cases and conviction he already has
• Special counsel appeals dismissal of Trump classified documents case
• Trump’s federal election interference case is resurrected