Trump Gets Good News With Delay Of DC Trial

Okay, so it’s not officially official that the earliest we might see Trump on trial in DC is mid April but practically speaking we now know that’s the case. There was a (very) short blurb up by Raw Story early this afternoon reporting that District Judge Tanya Chutkan has accepted that there won’t be time to start Trump’s trial in March as planned. With other cases demanding attention she’s got to keep her docket moving:

U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan has set an April 2 trial date for a Jan. 6 defendant despite former President Donald Trump’s March 4 trial date.

In a court order on Wednesday, Chutkan set Anthony Mastanduno’s trial for April.

Due to Trump’s appeal using the excuse he’s made up about “Presidential Immunity” judge Chutkan had already put pre-trial work on hold pending the outcome. That alone threatened the scheduled March 4 trial date but there was hope that a swift resolution to Trump’s bullshit argument would allow thing to get back on track. And, even if March 4 was a bit ambitious a prompt appellate ruling would allow things to get underway in mid to late March. Of course, as I’ve written (okay – RANTED) about here the DC Circuit is taking it’s sweet-assed time. Anticipating this Special Prosecutor Jack Smith went directly to SCOTUS and asked them to take up the case directly since they’d wind up seeing a request for Cert anyway.

They declined and allowed the normal process to play out. And I do mean normal, as in with NO regard for the urgency of the matter at hand. Apologists both on sites like this and on TV in the form of legal pundits say “Oh, by normal standards they are actually moving faster than normal. I call bullshit, Bullshit BULLSHIT! Judge Chutkan’s original ruling denying Trump’s immunity claim came down on Dec. 2, 2024. The DC Circuit (who HAD to know what was coming even before the ruling) didn’t even hold oral arguments until Jan. 9. Now it’s been OVER two freaking weeks. And crickets.

It’s long been the case that there are too many cases and not enough judges to handle the workload. Chief Justice John Roberts has repeatedly complained about it. But there ARE other cases in the works and given there’s no telling when the self-anointed “most awesomely very, VERY important people in the whole wide world, the judges at the DC Circuit will deign to render to us mere mortals terrified of what’s happening to our country their judgement Trump gets exactly what he wanted. Delay. DELAY! Judge Chutkan can’t justify holding open her trial calendar indefinitely.

The linked article cites Politico’s Kyel Cheney saying the trial date (for Mastanduno) suggests judge Chutkan won’t be hearing Trump’s trial in early April. Well DUH! Even the dumbest MAGA goober in the land can figure that one out. No, Trump’s DC trial is as I said unofficially Officially delayed:

“Judge Chutkan just set an April 2 trial date for a Jan. 6 defendant. Seems unlikely she expects Trump trial to get back on the books before at least mid-April,” Cheney wrote on X.

Awful as that is I believe it’s actually worse. If when I’m done saying why you say I need a tinfoil hat, or call for the “Men in their little White Coats” to come and “take me away” I won’t be offended. However it looks to me like Trump has managed to bully both the news outlets and the federal judiciary into submission. The fix IS in and in Trump’s favor!  Consider this:

The linked story that prompted me to write this isn’t just short, it’s the ONLY story I could find. Yes, I did a search and stories about a delay in Trump’s DC trial are at least five days old and only speculate about it seeming like there will be a delay. Now that we KNOW there will be there’s virtually nothing from print outlets.

TV journalists had said NOTHING as of the time I started writing this. NOTHING. I switched between a couple of networks to monitor. Finally, just now after listening to legal pundit Lisa Rubin on MSNBC making excuses for how long it’s taking to at the end briefly mention the trial I’ve cited, and said it was a “tacit admission” Trump won’t be going to trial. Worse, she said while she thought it should happen before the election she wasn’t sure it would!

Personally I think the producers lost their hearing when they picked up the phone in the control booth and the top brass SCREAMED at them to shut that segment down as in right f**king NOW!  Hell, someone will probably get fired. Okay, so at some point there will be a little more reporting on this development. Grudging. And as little as possible. Kind of like the “throwaway” line I just heard from Rubin.

The marching orders have been issued to journalists, just as the folks who control SCOTUS six Federalist Society “Justices” have issued them to the DC Circuit (who lest we forget dragged their feet on that gag order!) to sweep this sh*t under the rug. DRAG  IT  OUT you judges. And you journalists?  COVER  THEIR  ASSES.

Call me crazy if you like. But also call me idealistic (sometimes I still am) and old-fashioned. I believe that even the worst of criminal defendants have rights including to  have their day in court. However, the PEOPLE as in those who prosecute those accused of crimes also have rights. Just as a criminal lawyer has a client to represent, so does the govt. prosecutor. For the latter it’s us. The people. And the judges? Their job is to make sure both sides get a fair chance under the Constitution and the law.

A defendant has the right to a speedy trial. So do the people. It can be difficult to balance the two but SOME abuse the system and few have proven as good at doing so as Donald Trump. Whether out of greed, or fear of some MAGA doing harm to them or their loved ones or a combination of both it looks more and more (to me at least) Donald Trump’s bullying and threats are going to get him what he wants. ANY and all criminal trials delayed until after the election.

Goddamn but I am pissed off and depressed right now.