Staff Reports
In a surprising turn of events, U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan has partially sided with former President Donald Trump in his ongoing election interference case. Chutkan ruled on Thursday that special counsel Jack Smith must be limited in his actions against Trump, after the former president’s attorneys filed a motion calling for Smith to be held in contempt for continuing to make filings in the case despite a stay order.
Trump’s appeal to the Washington, D.C., Circuit Court of Appeals questioning whether presidential immunity applies to the charges brought against him by Smith is still pending. Smith’s attempt to expedite the appeal by appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court was denied.
DC Judge Sides with Trump, Reins In Jack Smith
Score one for Trump! https://t.co/pKV2M0pl2B
— Randy DeSoto (@RandyDeSoto) January 19, 2024
Despite Chutkan’s previous order staying the proceedings, Smith’s office served Trump with 4,000 pages of “additional discovery,” including hundreds of video and audio recordings. Trump’s attorneys have requested that all of Smith’s discovery requests be withdrawn and that prosecutors be required to seek permission from the court before submitting any further filings.
While Chutkan did not hold Smith’s prosecutors in contempt, she did agree with Trump that the parties should not file any further substantive pretrial motions without first seeking the court’s permission. Chutkan clarified that her previous order did not “clearly and unambiguously prohibit” the government’s actions, but rather stayed the deadlines and proceedings.
Trump’s spokesman, Steven Cheung, praised Chutkan’s ruling, calling it a “strong rebuke” of Smith and accusing him and President Joe Biden of playing games and making inflammatory statements critical of Trump. Cheung concluded, “After all, no prosecutor is above the law.”
