Chutkan Laughs Off SCOTUS Immunity Ruling In D.C. Trump Trial

The federal judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial in Washington, D.C., scoffed at the Supreme Court’s decision this summer that recognized presidential immunity for official acts in office.

On Thursday, attorneys representing the ex-president objected to continued proceedings they argued run afoul of the high court’s ruling in July. In that decision a concurring opinion from Justice Clarence Thomas questioned the legitimacy of Jack Smith’s appointment as special counsel.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed Trump’s classified documents case brought by Smith in Florida after the former president’s attorneys called the special counsel’s appointment illegal. D.C. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, however, said in Thursday’s hearing that Cannon’s argument for dismissal was not “particularly persuasive,” according to Politico reporter Kyle Cheney.

The New York Times reported that Chutkan “chuckle[d]” and slightly rolled her eyes in the courtroom Thursday when Trump’s attorneys argued the Supreme Court was “crystal clear” in rulings on immunity. Trump’s legal team had previously petitioned to remove the Obama-appointed judge from the case over her prejudicial statements against the former president and his supporters, particularly in rulings related to the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. Chutkan, however, denied requests to recuse herself from the case and allow the prosecution to proceed outside of the nation’s capital.

Smith filed an updated indictment against Trump last week after a series of Supreme Court decisions this summer threatened to derail the entire prosecution. In June, the nine-justice panel knocked out two of the four charges brought against Trump in the D.C. district court by ruling the Department of Justice (DOJ) had used an overly broad interpretation of a 2002 law related to the “obstruction of an official proceeding.”

Chutkan concluded the hearing without a trial date and said one was unlikely to come for “months.”

Smith’s new indictment “keeps the same criminal charges but narrows the allegations against him,” according to the Associated Press. The case is among a cascade of criminal charges filed against the former president in an effort to thwart Trump’s return to the White House this fall. Only one out of the four trials, however, has reached a criminal conviction so far. In May, a Manhattan jury unanimously voted to find Trump guilty on all 34 felony charges of falsifying business records in a “hush money” trial previously declined by local prosecutors.

On Tuesday, prosecutors in New York objected to a request from Trump’s legal team to delay sentencing until after Election Day in November. The Republican presidential nominee is currently expected to be sentenced on Sept. 18.