Jack Smith seeks to delay Trump case

Special Counsel Jack Smith is seeking a delay in the criminal case that he has brought against former President Donald Trump, Axios reports. 

This is a major departure from Smith's usual strategy for this case, which has been to try to rush things along with the hope of getting a guilty conviction of Trump before the 2024 presidential election.

This is all taking place in the so-called election interference case that Smith has brought against Trump on behalf of the Biden administration. This is the case that is taking place in Washington, D.C., before U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan.

Trump has maintained his innocence, and he has further alleged that Smith, on behalf of the Democrats, is weaponizing the law against him for political gain.

Here's what's going on:

This particular case has been put on hold for more than half of a year. This is because a part of the case - Trump's presidential immunity defense - had to be appealed all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In a partial win for Trump, the justices, at the end of their term, ruled that U.S. presidents have immunity from prosecution for official acts that they took as president.

The court, however, did not explain the difference between an official and a non-official act. Instead, it left this task up to the lower courts.

After the Supreme Court released this decision, the justices sent the case back down to Chutkan, and she wasted no time getting the case back up and running. She immediately ordered the parties to appear for a hearing on Aug. 16, 2024, to discuss how things will proceed.

To this end, Chutkan has asked both parties to put forth separate proposals detailing how they believe that the case ought to proceed - particularly in light of the Supreme Court's ruling.

Smith seeks a delay

Now, Smith is asking the judge to give him more time to come up with this proposal.

Smith wrote:

The Government continues to assess the new precedent set forth last month in the Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. United States. Although those consultations are well underway, the Government has not finalized its position on the most appropriate schedule for the parties to brief issues related to the decision.

Accordingly, Smith is asking for a three-week delay in the case.

Trump's legal team did not object to the request, which is no surprise because they have been looking to delay the case until after the 2024 election.

The only surprising bit here is that Smith is looking to slow things down. It makes it more likely that he will not the Trump guilty conviction that he has been so desperately pursuing.