ICYMI with all the campaign news, the Middle East powder keg, and the Olympics, the effort to bring the racist convicted felon Malignant Loser to justice in the 2020 election coup criminal case is back with Judge Chutkan. While a trial prior to the November election is out of the question (thanks, illegitimate MAGAt Republican Supreme Court!), there's going to be a renewed legal spotlight placed on the would- be "president for life," starting August 9:
The stalled criminal case against Donald Trump for seeking to subvert the 2020 election is starting to move.
The Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on presidential immunity — a breathtaking legal victory for Trump’s bid to sideline his criminal prosecutions — had kept the election-subversion case on ice for months. Even after the July 1 ruling, the high court’s rules required a one-month delay to give prosecutors the chance to ask the justices to reconsider the outcome.
On Friday, that window closed. The case was returned to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which took just minutes to send the matter back to the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who has been in a holding pattern since December awaiting the outcome of the immunity fight.
On Saturday, Chutkan took her first steps in the case in months, setting an August 16 hearing to consider setting a new schedule. She has asked for prosecutors and Trump to offer their own thinking on the matter in writing by August 9. The court session won’t force Trump off the campaign trail, since Chutkan said she won’t require him to be present.
Still, the flurry of actions signals new life for the gravest of the four criminal cases against Trump — and it comes at a time when other Trump cases have stalled. Special counsel Jack Smith charged the former president in August 2023 with four counts, alleging a sweeping conspiracy to disenfranchise millions of voters and pressure government officials to overturn the legitimate 2020 election results.
There appears to be no real prospect of a trial in the case before the November election, but some Trump critics have been eagerly awaiting the Supreme Court’s ministerial action of returning the case to the trial court, hoping that it results in a series of swift decisions from Chutkan that could again put Trump on the defensive... (our emphasis)
On that last point, Judge Chutkan has already started with swift decisions in addition to the ones noted above, rejecting on Saturday the Malignant Loser's attempt to dismiss the case over bogus charges of political interference by President Biden:
... In the ruling, Chutkan said Trump repeatedly mischaracterized the charges against him, which describe far more than simply criminalizing his claimed belief that the 2020 election was stolen.
Rather, Chutkan ruled, the charges describe a sweeping attempt to manipulate and lie to government authorities in order to undermine the lawful 2020 election results. And Trump’s claim that Biden was secretly behind the prosecution relied on flimsy evidence and anonymously sourced articles that Chutkan said he described inaccurately...
This case will be shuttlecocking between Chutkan, the appeals court, and the illegitimate MAGAt Republican Supreme Court for months, no doubt. But, as the article points out, there could be many opportunities for Special Counsel Smith to get evidence of the Malignant Loser's infamy into the public domain, especially if Chutkan allows
... a hearing to assess the effect of the immunity ruling on the evidence Smith intends to present. That proceeding could feature witness testimony from key figures in the case.
Trump opponents hope this “mini-trial” would showcase Trump’s ties to the violence that unfolded on Jan. 6, 2021, and remind voters of the most chaotic day of Trump’s presidency, even if it doesn’t carry the same stakes as a jury trial...
This isn't over yet, and to quote a favorite Presidential candidate, "When we fight, we win."
(Photo illustration: via Politico / Getty Images)
