Special Counsel Jack Smith requested more time on Thursday to respond to a scheduling request from the judge presiding over Donald Trump’s 2020 election interference case, indicating that his office is still grappling with the Supreme Court’s ruling in the former president’s immunity case nearly a month later.
“The government continues to review the new precedent set in the Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. United States last month, including in consultation with other Justice Department agencies,” prosecutors wrote in a status report to Judge Tanya Chutkan filed in Washington, DC District Court.
“Although these consultations are well underway, the government has not yet finalized its position on the most appropriate timetable for informing the parties on issues related to the decision,” Smith’s office said.
“The government therefore respectfully requests more time to present to the court a well-founded proposal for the timetable for the further pre-trial proceedings.”
The Supreme Court ruled on July 1 that Trump, 78, was entitled to absolute immunity from prosecution for “official acts” during his presidency, leaving it to lower courts to clarify what constitutes an “official act” of a sitting president.
Smith accused Trump of attempting to “defraud the United States through dishonesty, fraud, and deceit” to obstruct the electoral process, “obstruct the January 6 session of Congress to count and certify the collected presidential election results,” and work “against the right to vote and have your vote counted.”
The former president’s camp argued that many of Trump’s efforts were “official acts” protected by his office.
Chutkan got the case back last Friday and tried to push for a quick schedule for the upcoming pretrial proceedings.
The delay request, which Trump’s legal team agreed to, according to the filing, would require both parties to submit another joint status report to Chutkan by August 30.
Trump argued Thursday night that the Supreme Court’s immunity decision requires an immediate dismissal of this and all other cases pending against him.
“It is clear that the Supreme Court’s historic immunity decision demands and requires a complete and total dismissal of ALL witch hunts – the January 6 Washington, DC hoax, the Manhattan District Attorney zombie case, the New York Attorney General hoax, the false claims about a woman I’ve never met (a 40-year-old photo in a line with her then-husband doesn’t count!), and the ‘perfect’ phone call prosecution from Georgia,” he wrote in a Truth Social post.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon last month dismissed the lawsuit against Trump related to the classified federal documents on the grounds that Smith was not lawfully appointed.
Smith has appealed Cannon’s ruling in that case.
