Criminal defense attorney Bill Brennan said Friday that there is almost no chance former President Donald Trump will face a trial in his Washington, D.C. case before the November election.
Judge Tanya Chutkan agreed Friday with special counsel Jack Smith’s request for a postponement in Trump’s election interference case by delaying a scheduled hearing from Aug. 16 to Sept. 5. Brennan, who previously represented Trump, said on “CNN News Central” that this latest delay makes it even more improbable that the trial could start before the election, because of how quickly it is approaching. (RELATED: Judge Chutkan Faces Long Road To Get Trump Case Back On Track After Presidential Immunity Ruling)
“When you’re the defendant, it certainly is in your favor to have delay. I mean, there’s the old adage, justice delayed is justice denied, but not necessarily when you’re a defendant,” Brennan said. “And I suspect that there may be some dissension between the office of special counsel and main justice on how to proceed because that sweeping ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court has a lot of daylight in it. There’s a lot of subjective interpretation for the three tiers of immunity laid out by the Supreme Court.”
WATCH:
Attorney Tells CNN It’s ‘Virtually Impossible’ Trump Will Face DC Trial Before Election pic.twitter.com/vX5JsG7U26
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 9, 2024
Prosecutors wrote in a Thursday night filing that the government is still evaluating the impact of the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling and requested the timeline to be delayed several weeks. Chutkan originally rejected Trump’s motion to toss the case based on presidential immunity on Dec. 1, with his appeal causing a multi-month postponement in the case and the cancellation of the initially slated March trial date.
CNN correspondent Jessica Dean then asked Brennan if he thinks “it’s possible” the case could proceed “before the November election.”
“Everything’s possible, but it’s extremely unlikely, virtually impossible, I would say, because we’re now in the midst of the election season,” he said. “It’s August 9th. I think the election is in early November, maybe the fifth. I just don’t see how, with the delay that’s just occurred, and that’s just to really talk about theories on how to proceed, I don’t see how it could be brought to trial … just fighting the calendar pages, in any realistic way before November 5th.”
Trump faces four felony counts related to alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Former U.S. attorney Joyce Vance said on Monday there is “absolutely no chance” of the trial taking place before the November election, citing the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling.
“The way the Supreme Court structured this decision, Judge Chutkan will make her rulings and if she permits any of the charges to go forward, any of the allegations in the indictment to remain in place, indicates that the government can use any of this evidence, despite Trump’s claims that it’s all now cloaked in presidential immunity, there will be a round two appeal,” she said. “Because the way immunity works, and the Supreme Court makes this clear, is the whole point of having immunity is you shouldn’t have to stand trial for charges that you have immunity from.
“So Trump will inevitably take objection to anything that she permits to move forward … This case will not happen quickly,” she added.
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