Federal prosecutors in the Department of Justice on Friday want more time to decide whether to continue prosecuting President-elect Donald Trump.
Special Counsel Jack Smith said Trump’s sweeping victory on Tuesday over Vice President Kamala Harris means his team needs to regroup and come up with a plan of attack.
“The Government respectfully requests that the Court vacate the remaining deadlines in the pretrial schedule to afford the Government time to assess this unprecedented circumstance and determine the appropriate course going forward consistent with Department of Justice policy,” prosecutors wrote in a motion before the court. Judge Tanya Chutkan granted the motion and ordered Smith to send her a status report by Dec. 2 regarding his plans to attack Trump for what he has called a criminal scheme to overturn the 2020 election of Joe Biden.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges and the U.S. Supreme Court found that he had presidential immunity for the actions he took while in office while executing his core constitutional duties and that he had limited immunity on other matters. Unofficial acts are not protected.