Trump Federal Election Case Could Be Delayed for Months

Former President Donald Trump arrives for a press conference on the second day of his defamation trial involving E. Jean Carrol, in New York on Jan. 17, 2024. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump’s federal election trial may be on hold for months, the federal judge overseeing the case has indicated.

“I hope not to be in the country on Aug. 5,” U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan said during a separate criminal case conference, according to Politico. The judge said that if she is, it will only be because “I’m in trial in another matter that has not yet returned to my calendar,” seeming to reference President Trump’s case, which was removed from the calendar via an order on Feb. 2.

In December 2023, Judge Chutkan rejected a motion to dismiss the case based on presidential immunity, and President Trump’s attorneys took the case to the appeals court. Since then, the case schedule has been paused, leaving the trial date up in the air.

Judge Chutkan’s calendar currently includes a separate case that will be heard in early April, which had been taken to mean that the judge wasn’t expecting the ongoing appeal to be resolved in a manner that would return the case to her court anytime soon. Now it appears that the judge is weighing a schedule that may see an even longer delay.

Cluttered Schedule

The federal election case has already been on hold for two months.

On Jan. 9, a three-judge panel heard oral arguments on President Trump’s motion to dismiss. It isn’t known when the court will issue a decision.

If the appeals court rejects the motion, President Trump is expected to further appeal the case by asking for a rehearing with the full bench of the appeals court. The case could also be reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court. All of these would extend the delay.

President Trump had filed three unsuccessful motions to dismiss the case in district court, where he is charged with four counts of obstruction and conspiracy related to his actions on Jan. 6, 2021, and an appeals court may yet agree to review those as well.

Further complicating scheduling matters are the three other criminal cases on President Trump’s calendar.

The former president was originally set to go to trial in March in Manhattan, where he was indicted on 37 counts related to allegedly mishandling business financial documents. The case was set to be delayed because the federal election case was scheduled for March 4, but a new date hasn’t been set.

President Trump was supposed to go to trial in May in the Southern District of Florida, where he was indicted on 40 counts related to allegedly mishandling classified documents. However, a federal judge has said the schedule will be delayed because of the volume of discovery material involved, some of which is classified information. Several case conferences thus far have been sealed given the classified nature of what is being discussed. A new trial date hasn’t yet been set.

Prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia, have asked to go to trial in August in a large-scale racketeering case that accuses President Trump and 15 others of interfering with the 2020 elections.

Prosecutors expect to need three to five months to present their case, and several additional weeks or months could be added in order for the defense teams to present their case, guaranteeing that an August trial would continue through the general election. Several defendants have filed motions to dismiss the case, some of which have yet to be heard. A judge hasn’t yet set a trial date.

Although President Trump isn’t required to fully attend all of his trials, he has said publicly that he intends to be present at as many trials as his schedule allows.

He has alleged that these indictments are “election interference” on the part of his political rivals, including President Joe Biden, whom he has implicated in a motion to dismiss his federal election case based on “selective and vindictive prosecution.”

President Trump said these cases have now become a part of his campaign, and he maintains that he has done nothing wrong.