For the time being, one Democratic aspiration can be crossed off the list.
Newsweek has reported that U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan has decided not to imprison former President Donald Trump in the event of his noncompliance with the court’s stringent gag order in the case related to the January 6, 2021 Capitol intrusion, despite the Department of Justice’s pressure.
A footnote in Chutkan’s ruling issued on Sunday contained some encouraging information. In this footnote, Chutkan rejected the prosecution’s request to make the former president’s release contingent on his adherence to the restrictions imposed by the gag order.
“The government also asks the court to incorporate the Order into Defendant’s conditions of release …,” she wrote in the first footnote of the ruling. “Even assuming that request is procedurally proper, the court concludes that granting it is not necessary to effectively enforce the Order at this time.”
Nonetheless, Chutkan lifted the gag order after a brief suspension in response to Special Counsel Jack Smith’s request from last month. Smith had argued that Trump’s statements about the accusations and the individuals involved in the case could intimidate witnesses and obstruct the prosecution.
Chutkan emphasized that “the right to a fair trial is not [Trump’s] alone, but also belongs to the government and the public.”
Former President Trump is now facing an increasing number of court dates, which may significantly affect his ability to campaign for the 2024 GOP nomination, especially during the peak of the primary season.
At present, Trump, who is the leading candidate in the Republican primaries by a significant margin, is free to travel without restrictions as he pursues a challenge against President Joe Biden in a rematch next year. He currently has federal cases pending in Washington, D.C., and Florida. Additionally, he is confronting state charges in Georgia and New York.
Furthermore, Trump is contending with challenges to his eligibility to run for president. A case involving a provision of the 14th Amendment designed to prevent him from being on the ballot commenced in Colorado on Monday, and similar cases have been filed in Minnesota and other states. Lastly, Trump is currently entangled in a civil fraud trial in New York City related to his business ventures, as reported by Center Square.
“Trump attorney Christopher Kise, for the first time this week, requested permission to appear in the Florida classified documents case by phone while defending Trump in his civil case in New York,” the outlet reported. “Kise wrote in a motion that is unable to attend the Nov. 1 hearing in person ‘because he is engaged at trial in New York State Supreme Court in another case wherein he represents President Trump.’”
The publication also highlighted that federal prosecutors did not object to Kise’s request to participate via phone.
In Washington, Trump is confronting four charges connected to the aftermath of the 2020 election. Simultaneously, he is facing multiple charges in Florida related to his possession of classified documents.
Trump’s legal team has been contesting the trial dates for several months, and the former president himself has characterized the packed legal schedule as “election interference.” In this regard, there might be a reprieve in the Florida case.
The judge presiding over the case, Aileen Cannon, suggested on Wednesday that she could potentially postpone the trial until after the election, as reported by Politico. Currently, the trial is slated to commence on May 20.
“I’m just having a hard time seeing how realistically this work can be accomplished in this compressed period of time, given the realities that we’re facing,” Cannon, a Trump appointee, told attorneys during a court session. She also said she’ll make “reasonable adjustments” to the schedule, such as deadlines for pretrial filings.
Although she did not explicitly commit to delaying the trial, any extension of crucial deadlines might create a domino effect, potentially pushing the actual trial start date beyond the November 2024 election.
In late August, a rising star in the Democratic party and a Democratic lawmaker expressed concerns about the trial dates related to former President Donald Trump as the 2024 campaign season intensifies.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) shared his thoughts with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, emphasizing that the legal issues of the leading GOP presidential candidate should not interfere with his ability to campaign.
This discussion followed U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan setting a trial start date of March 4 for Trump’s case related to January 6, just one day before the “Super Tuesday” primaries.
While Khanna acknowledged the significance of the timing, he also mentioned that the trial date could potentially be adjusted. Hewitt, however, considered this scheduling a “terrible insult to our idea, our fundamental commitment to fair proceedings,” and he asked Khanna if he concurred with that sentiment.
The Democrat initially recognized the importance of the timing within the context of the January 6 case.
“Well, I’m not sure that that’s going to be the actual date at the end of the day. There’s appeal; there’s an ability to move it. I mean, let’s see what happens. So, I’m not, I’m a member of Congress. It’s not for me to make the decisions on where the trial dates are going to happen,” said Khanna.
“My instinct on all of this is they’re not going to have trials in the middle of something that’s going to compromise a candidate’s ability to have a fair fight. I just don’t see that happening in our country,” he claimed.
