WASHINGTON — The judge overseeing the election interference case against former President Donald Trump denied Trump’s motion to dismiss the indictment, though she added that he could ‘file a renewed motion once all issues of immunity have been resolved.”
In the Saturday filing, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan also scheduled an August conference with the defense and prosecution to teams to determine a schedule for pretrial proceedings on Aug. 16.
Chutkan’s move comes one month after the Supreme Court ruled that Trump has some level of immunity for the conduct related to the case. The high court sent the case back for lower courts to determine what conduct Trump could be prosecuted for.
The Supreme Court also ruled that any of Trump’s conduct that is determined to be official — and therefore immune — cannot be admitted as evidence during a trial.
Trial proceedings before Chutkan had been paused as the case made its way to the Supreme Court.
Now that the case is back with Chutkan, the judge will ultimately determine what aspects of Trump’s conduct as alleged in the indictment were official and therefore immune from prosecution.
Both parties now face an Aug. 9 deadline to file a status report to Chutkan regarding a proposed schedule for pretrial proceedings. The status report is supposed to be jointly filed to the extent that both sides can find common ground. That would require that the sides meet to discuss a proposed schedule, which is typical in federal cases.
It remains unclear when the case may move forward to a trial.
Trump is not required to attend the Aug. 16 meeting.
Trump and his lawyers had repeatedly argued that the former president had prosecutorial immunity for actions he took on and before the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The former president and his allies praised the Supreme Court’s ruling, while Democrats slammed it.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
