A federal judge declined Saturday to toss out former President Donald Trump’s federal election subversion case over his assertion that he’s being unfairly and singularly prosecuted.
In a 16-page order, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan wrote that, at the outset of the trial process, the court must assume the allegations against Trump are truthful — and the “improper reframing of the allegations against him” he has presented so far cannot support dismissal.
“At this stage, the court cannot accept Defendant’s alternate narrative,” Chutkan wrote.
The case was put back in Chutkan’s hands just Friday, after a federal appeals court remanded the matter to the trial court shortly after the case was returned from the Supreme Court following its 6-3 decision last month granting former presidents at least presumptive immunity for official acts.
That ruling likely doomed some allegations against Trump in the four-count indictment accusing him of conspiring to subvert the 2020 presidential election results. He has pleaded not guilty.
Trump’s motion arguing that the prosecution is selective and vindictive was filed in October and echoed many of his oft-repeated lines from the campaign trail, including that he was only raising questions about the 2020 election and cannot be blamed for the subsequent storming of the building by his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021.
“Because the Government has not charged President Trump with responsibility for the actions at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, allegations related to these actions are not relevant and are prejudicial and inflammatory,” the former president’s attorneys wrote in the October filing. “Therefore, the Court should strike these allegations from the Indictment.”
Trump also pointed the finger at President Biden, his chief political opponent at the time, and claimed that the charges against him were the result of the president’s pledge to ensure Trump would not be president again.
In her decision Saturday, Chutkan squarely rebuffed those assertions, writing that there is “no indication” Biden sought to pressure the Justice Department or Attorney General Merrick Garland to take “politically motivated action” against Trump.
“Defendant has presented no evidence demonstrating a likelihood of vindictiveness,” she wrote.
Trump’s immunity claims froze the case for months as it moved through higher courts, but now Chutkan has resumed control over the case. Earlier Saturday, she scheduled a hearing for Aug. 16 to determine how to move forward.
The former president’s attorneys have insisted that his prosecutions should not proceed until after the election, though Chutkan has previously rejected those efforts to delay — and now appears to be moving full-steam ahead with the case.