Judge Chutkan on Saturday rejected Trump’s motion to dismiss his election case, which argued that the Supreme Court's decision on presidential immunity should invalidate the charges.
Chutkan ruled that Trump’s argument mischaracterizes the charges, which focus on allegations of knowingly lying to further a criminal conspiracy, not merely on his political statements or actions.
The ruling by Chutkan is the first significant order since the case was returned to her on Friday, following last month’s landmark Supreme Court opinion which granted broad immunity to former presidents, narrowing Special Counsel Jack Smith’s case.
In their motion to dismiss the indictment, defense lawyers contended that Trump was unfairly targeted because he faced prosecution while others who have contested election results have not. Trump also claimed that Joe Biden and the Justice Department initiated the prosecution to hinder his chances of reelection.
The Department of Justice accuses Trump of trying to overturn the 2020 election “results”’ leading up to the January 6 Capitol riot. Trump denies wrongdoing and claims immunity based on his status as a sitting president at the time. Following the Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling on July 1, which affirmed that former presidents have immunity for official acts but not for unofficial ones, the case has been returned to Chutkan for further proceedings.
Chutkan has directed the defense and prosecution to submit a joint schedule for pretrial proceedings by August 9, and has set a status conference with the lawyers for August 16 to discuss next steps in the case.
