Lawyers for Donald Trump urged a federal appeals court on Wednesday to reject Special Counsel Jack Smith's bid for a speedy review of key questions that must be decided before the former president's criminal trial, including whether Trump is immune from prosecution.
"The prosecution has one goal in this case: To unlawfully attempt to try, convict, and sentence President Trump before an election in which he is likely to defeat President Biden," Trump's lawyers argued in their 16-page brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. "This represents a blatant attempt to interfere with the 2024 presidential election and to disenfranchise the tens of millions of voters who support President Trump’s candidacy."
At issue is the appeal process on an opinion from U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who ruled against Trump earlier this month that he could not get Smith's charges dismissed on grounds of "presidential immunity" and by seeking to challenge the case on First Amendment Constitutional grounds.
Trump's lawyers on Wednesday urged the appeals court to follow standard review practices and not expedite its own review of Chutkan's opinion.
Smith on Monday petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to consider an expedited review of the immunity question while also proposing a speedy timetable for the D.C. Circuit. The special counsel's proposal: order Trump's lawyers to turn in their opening briefs within 10 days of a briefing order, followed by a deadline one week later for the government and then three more days for the former president's lawyers.
Trump's lawyers took issue with that plan in their Wednesday filing, saying it would blow up their end-of-year holiday plans.
"This proposed schedule would require attorneys and support staff to work round-the-clock through the holidays, inevitably disrupting family and travel plans," Trump's lawyers wrote. "It is as if the Special Counsel 'growled, with his Grinch fingers nervously drumming, ‘I must find some way to keep Christmas from coming. … But how?’”
The former president's legal team in Wednesday's filing proposed a timetable in which Trump would have 40 days to file an initial brief, 21 days to file a reply brief, and 45 days to prepare for oral argument.
"This appeal presents novel, complex, and sensitive questions of profound importance," Trump's lawyers wrote. "Whether a President of the United States may be criminally prosecuted for his official acts as President goes to the core of our system of separated powers and will stand among the most consequential questions ever decided by this Court. The manifest public interest lies in the Court’s careful and deliberate consideration of these momentous issues with the utmost care and diligence."
Even if the appeals court grants Smith's motion to expedite, Trump's legal team requested at least 14 days to file a reply brief and 21 days to prepare for oral arguments.
"Anything less," Trump's lawyers wrote, "would result in a heedless rush to judgment on some of the most sensitive and important issues that this court may ever decide."
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.