Washington — A federal judge presiding over the election interference case against former President Donald Trump on Saturday rejected defense efforts to dismiss claims that the prosecution was vindictive and politically motivated.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan is her first substantive order since the case was returned to her on Friday following a landmark Supreme Court ruling last month granting broad immunity to former presidents and narrowing the scope of special counsel Jack Smith’s case against President Trump.
In a motion to dismiss, the defense argued that Trump was unfairly treated because he was indicted while others who challenged the election results avoided criminal charges. Trump, who is the Republican nominee for the 2024 presidential election, also suggested that President Joe Biden and the Justice Department should initiate prosecutions to prevent his reelection.
But Chutkan rejected both claims, saying Trump was not simply accused of contesting the election results but of “knowingly making false statements to facilitate a criminal conspiracy and to obstruct the certification of the election.” She also said his lawyers had misread news media articles they cited to argue that the indictment was political in nature.
“After reviewing defendant’s evidence and arguments, the court cannot conclude that defendant bore the burden of proving either actual retaliation or the presumption thereof, and therefore finds no basis for dismissing this case on those grounds,” Chutkan wrote in the order.
She also scheduled a status conference on Saturday, August 16, to discuss next steps in the case.
A four-count indictment filed in August 2023 accuses Trump of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election results he lost to Biden through a variety of schemes, including pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to block the official certification of the Electoral College.
Trump’s attorneys have argued that as a former president he is entitled to immunity from prosecution, and the case has been on hold since December while his appeals play out in the courts.
The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 opinion, ruled that the president enjoys absolute immunity from prosecution for core constitutional duties and presumptive immunity from prosecution for all other official acts. The justices remanded the case to Chutkan to decide which acts alleged in the indictment could remain part of the indictment and which should be dismissed.
