WASHINGTON — U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Friday approved a request from Special Counsel Jack Smith to allow more time to propose next steps in the government’s election interference case against former President Donald Trump.
The ruling came a day after Smith and other prosecutors asked the judge to push back the deadline to offer a new timeline for the case until Aug. 30.
Chutkan gave prosecutors and Trump’s legal team until Friday to submit a joint report on the situation, including a timeline for pretrial proceedings ahead of the status conference scheduled for Aug. 16.
The special counsel’s office said in its Thursday filing that prosecutors are still evaluating the “new precedent set” in the Supreme Court’s Trump immunity ruling.
“While these consultations are well underway, the Government has not finalized its position on the most appropriate timetable for parties to report on matters relating to the decision,” the special counsel’s office said. “The Government therefore respectfully requests additional time to provide the Court with an informed proposal regarding the timetable for moving forward with pretrial proceedings. The defense does not oppose the Government’s request for an extension.”
Smith asked Chutkan to give them and Trump’s lawyers until Aug. 30 to file the joint status report and schedule the status conference after that. Friday’s order granted the deadline extension and rescheduled the status conference for September 5.
The appeals process ensured that the trial would not take place before election day on November 5th.
In each of the four criminal cases against Trump, the former president and his legal team sought to delay the proceedings as long as possible in order to run out time before the election or have the charges dismissed.
Last weekend, Chutkan denied an older motion by Trump to dismiss the election interference charge, filed before the Supreme Court took up the case.
Zoe Richards contributed.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
