Judge Chutkan Unimpressed by Donald Trump’s ‘Sneaky Strategy’: Attorney

The judge in Donald Trump’s election-fraud case has rejected the former president’s “sneaky” attempt to delay the case, a former federal prosecutor has said.
Judge Tanya Chutkan allowed chief prosecutor Jack Smith to file an opening brief of 180 pages, over the objections of Trump’s lawyer, who argued that the limit in Washington, D.C., federal court is just 45 pages. In rejecting these on Tuesday, Chutkan complained of the “incoherence” of the Trump position. Newsweek sought email comment from Trump’s attorney on Thursday.
The former president was indicted in Washington, D.C., on four counts of allegedly working to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the run-up to the January 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol. The Republican presidential nominee has pleaded not guilty and has repeatedly said the case is part of a political witch hunt. The opening brief will set out the evidence that prosecutors have against him.
Former federal prosecutor, Joyce Vance, wrote in her legal blog, Civil Discourse, on Wednesday that Chutkan had quickly shot down Trump’s arguments.
“Trump’s lawyers may have thought this was a good, sneaky strategy for delaying the process, but Judge Chutkan was unimpressed,” wrote Vance, a liberal commentator who has been a frequent Trump critic. “In her order, she noted that Trump only devoted a sentence to the subject at hand, page limits.”
In her order, Judge Chutkan wrote: “The rest of the nine-page opposition rehashes Defendant’s position that immunity briefing should not begin until he files a motion to dismiss several months from now. The court has already addressed the scheduling objections Defendant raised when he was given an opportunity to do so.”
Vance added that Trump’s attempted delays show his concern about facing justice couldn’t be any more palpable.
“Judge Chutkan didn’t bite. She granted the Special Counsel’s request for extra pages and commented on ‘the incoherence of defendant’s demand’ to further delay the trial,” Vance wrote.
She added that Trump is seeking to delay the release of Smith’s opening brief because the document will be embarrassing during the presidential election season. “Trump, of course, wants the delay because he doesn’t want the public to see the evidence against him during the election.”
“He claimed, in his page limits response, that it was unfair to let Smith detail the evidence against him in the public record ‘at this very sensitive time in our nation’s history.’ Chutkan responded. Smith’s motion will contain the most exhaustive version of the evidence against Trump to date,” Vance wrote.
Smith is expected to file his 180-page opening brief on Thursday in his new election-fraud case against Trump.
Smith knows that, under the July 1 U.S. Supreme Court on presidential immunity, Trump had a lot of protection from prosecution. So, by going to 180 pages, the chief prosecutor wants to fully lay out the case against Trump so that all immunity challenges can be dealt with early in the case. That prevents the former president’s lawyers from raising an objection mid-trial.
The Supreme Court had already outlined in its ruling that the case against Trump should be fully articulated early to allow the federal courts to assess its constitutionality.
The new Trump indictment is 36 pages long, nine pages shorter than the original. It has a much stronger emphasis on private actions, rather than his presidential ones, so that Smith can comply with the July 1 Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity.