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There are several pretrial motions pending before U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in Donald Trump’s Washington prosecution, but special counsel Jack Smith wants her to prioritize deciding two issues: presidential immunity and double jeopardy.
That’s because, as Smith’s team explained in a filing on Monday, those claims could be subject to “interlocutory appeal,” meaning they could be appealed ahead of the scheduled March 4 trial in the federal election interference case, which is set to be the first trial of Trump's four criminal cases.
Trump wants Chutkan to pause the proceedings until the immunity issue is resolved, which the special counsel called the former president's “newest delay tactic.” Smith’s filing opposes Trump’s attempt to halt the case, and it also asks Chutkan to swiftly resolve not only the underlying immunity issue but also Trump’s double jeopardy claim, in an effort to head off further delay.
Among his slew of motions to dismiss, Trump argues he’s immune from the Washington prosecution because he was president at the time of the indictment's allegations, and that his (second) impeachment acquittal means double jeopardy bars his prosecution for related charges. The double jeopardy claim is especially weak, as my colleague Hayes Brown has explained. Trump’s immunity bid is a reach, too, though it raises an open question the Supreme Court may choose to answer — the high court has found presidential immunity in the civil context, and Trump wants to extend that protection here.
Whatever Chutkan decides on these claims, it makes sense for her to do so soon. Unlike U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon in Trump’s Florida federal prosecution, Chutkan doesn’t appear to be entertaining delays, so she likely understands the importance of addressing these issues expeditiously, with or without the government’s urging.
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