Lawyers for former President Donald Trump, some of whom were directly affected after Hurricane Milton made landfall earlier this month, asked a federal judge to delay deadlines in the former president’s Jan. 6 criminal case.
Trump attorneys Todd Blanche and John Lauro asked U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Monday, just one week before Election Day, whether she would be willing to push back three key deadlines in special counsel Jack Smith’s four-count felony case. The case accuses Trump of knowingly attempting to subvert the results of the 2020 election and undo President Joe Biden‘s victory.
“Here, President Trump seeks brief continuances of his filing deadlines,” the attorneys wrote, noting the storm was responsible for “displacing and severely disrupting Florida defense counsel from both undersigned firms,” according to the four-page motion.
The attorneys said Hurricane Milton’s impact has “frustrated” their abilities to respond to Smith’s Sept. 26 filing, in which the prosecutor argued the case must move forward despite the Supreme Court’s July ruling that found former presidents enjoy certain immunities from criminal prosecution.
The sudden request came just eight days before the Nov. 5 matchup between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, all while the judge in the case has moved rapidly ever since it returned to her court following the Supreme Court’s immunity considerations.
Chutkan has routinely denied Trump’s requests for delays in the case. Trump’s attorneys frequently call her continuance of the case a form of “election interference.” Chutkan recently wrote in a court filing that delaying the case merely because there is an election would also constitute a form of election interference.
“This court is not concerned with the electoral schedule,” she told attorneys for Trump on Sept. 5.
However, the special counsel’s office indicated that it “does not oppose a brief continuance based on counsel’s personal circumstances,” according to the defense’s filing. However, Smith’s office ultimately deferred to the judge regarding the “appropriate length of any extension.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Trump is asking to delay his brief in support of a previous request to dismiss the case based on the appointments and appropriations clauses of the Constitution. He is seeking to delay a Nov. 7 deadline to Nov. 21, in addition to a request to make his final reply on the immunity dispute due by Dec. 19.
It remains to be seen whether Chutkan will fulfill this request, although the lack of opposition from Smith suggests she could offer Trump’s counsel a partial continuance of the deadlines.