WASHINGTON – The federal judge who presides over the electoral subversion case against former president Donald Trump on Saturday rejected a defense effort to dismiss the indictment on allegations he was prosecuted for vindictive and political purposes.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan’s ruling is the first substantive order since the case was returned to her on Friday following a landmark Supreme Court opinion last month which granted broad immunity to former presidents and reduced special counsel Jack Smith’s case against Trump.
In their motion to dismiss the charge, defense lawyers argued that Trump was mistreated because he was prosecuted, even though others who challenged the election results avoided criminal charges. Trump, the Republican nominee in the 2024 presidential race, also suggested that President Joe Biden and the Justice Department begin proceedings to prevent him from being re-elected.
But Chutkan rejected both arguments, saying Trump was not charged simply for disputing the election results, but rather for “knowingly making false statements in furtherance of criminal conspiracies and obstructing election certification procedures.” She also said his lawyers misinterpreted media articles they cited in arguing that the accusation was political in nature.
“After reviewing Defendant’s evidence and arguments, the court cannot conclude that he has borne his burden to establish actual revenge or the presumption thereof and therefore finds no basis to dismiss this case on these grounds,” Chutkan wrote in your order.
Also on Saturday, she scheduled a status conference for Aug. 16 to discuss next steps in the case.
The four-count indictment, filed in August 2023, accuses Trump of conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost to Biden through a variety of schemes, including intimidating his vice president, Mike Pence, to block the certification. formal electoral process. wishes.
Trump’s lawyers argued that he was immune from prosecution as a former president, and the case has been on hold since December while his appeal worked its way through the courts.
The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 opinion, held that presidents enjoy absolute immunity for fundamental constitutional duties and are presumptively immune from prosecution for all other official acts. The judges returned the case to Chutkan to determine which acts alleged in the indictment can remain part of the indictment and which should be dismissed.
