Former president Donald Trump was in court while he campaigned ahead of New Hampshire's Republican primary
AFP

KEY POINTS

  • Judge Tanya Chutkan has not set a new date for Donald Trump's election interference criminal trial
  • The delay stems from an appeal from the ex-president that remains unresolved in the courts
  • Trump's appeal claims he is immune from prosecution for actions he took in the White House

The election interference criminal trial of former President Donald Trump has been indefinitely postponed by a federal judge in Washington on Friday.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan officially postponed the trial, which was scheduled to start March 4 in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

Chutkan has not set a new date for Trump's trial on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election.

The delay stems from an appeal from Trump, arguing that he is immune to prosecution for actions taken while he was in the White House. The appeal is yet to be resolved in courts.

In January, Chutkan indicated that the original date of March 4 for the trial would not hold because the case had been frozen by the former president's appeal.

The postponement could clear the way for the ex-president to stand trial in another criminal case in New York, charging Trump in connection with 2016 hush money payments. The trial in New York, that is slated for March 25 is seen as the least legally damaging of the indictments against Trump.

Trump is currently basking in the status of being the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. Delays in his criminal cases would work in Trump's favor as he faces four indictments and a total of 91 felony counts.

The election interference criminal trial in Washington was brought by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith, who hopes to prosecute Trump before the November election. If Trump takes office while the charges are still pending against him, he could order the Justice Department to drop the case and potentially try to seek a pardon for himself.

The ex-president faces dozens of felony charges in Florida accusing him of illegally retaining classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate and is also accused in a Georgia case of plotting to overturn that state's 2020 election. The trial date for the New York case is set on May 20 but could be postponed. No trial date has been set for the Georgia case.

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