Prosecutors may be reluctant to bring a case against former President Donald Trump so close to the 2024 presidential election, an attorney has said.
Joyce Vance was reacting to the surprise request by prosecutors on Thursday to delay the Republican presidential nominee’s election fraud case by three weeks. She suggested that the Department of Justice may be applying a “special rule” to avoid going to trial before the election.
“It’s possible DOJ could apply some special rule in this unusual case, but hopefully they’ve learned that nothing good happens when Trump receives special treatment other defendants aren’t entitled to,” she wrote.
Chief prosecutor Jack Smith announced on Thursday that he needs until August 30 to lay out his case against Trump following the U.S. Supreme Court‘s July 1 ruling on presidential immunity.
He said that the federal government “has not finalized its position on the most appropriate schedule for the parties to brief issues related to the decision,” and “respectfully requests additional time” to assess the Supreme Court’s immunity precedent.
Smith said prosecutors are seeking to submit a joint status report with Trump’s team by August 30 and hold a schedule status conference “a convenient day thereafter.” He added that prosecutors are free any day after August 30, but that Trump’s team was unavailable on September 6 and the week of September 16.
Judge Tanya Chutkan had asked both sides to explain on Friday how the case should proceed after the Supreme Court issued a broad interpretation of presidential immunity that has made prosecutors’ case more difficult.
“The Special Counsel’s job is to move his case forward, as quickly as possible but taking due care to get it right,” Vance, a former federal prosecutor, wrote in her legal blog, Civil Discourse, on Thursday. “That’s where we find ourselves.”
Vance said prosecutors may be reluctant to go to trial so close to the election. However, she said that nothing good happens when Trump is granted special treatment that other defendants do not receive.
Newsweek sought email comment on Friday from Trump‘s attorney.
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on July 1 that presidents have broad immunity for official acts. It also ruled that official acts cannot be used as evidence if taking a case against a president for unofficial acts.
Trump was indicted on four counts of allegedly working to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the run-up to the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. He has pleaded not guilty and has said the case is part of a political witch hunt.
The case was frozen in Chutkan’s court while the Supreme Court considered the presidential immunity issue.
