'Surprise' argument could blow up Trump's election interference trial strategy: Expert

A newly filed "surprise" argument could blow a hole in former President Donald Trump's strategy to avoid criminal prosecution in his federal election conspiracy trial, according to a former federal prosecutor.

The watchdog group American Oversight's new filing could destroy Trump's chances of delaying Special Counsel Jack Smith's case, Harry Litman wrote Wednesday in the Los Angeles Times.

Experts believe Trump is trying to delay the Justice department case past the November 2024 election so that he can kill the case if he reclaims the White House.

Litman believes the brief filed with the Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, currently considering Trump's presidential immunity claim, just shortened the odds against him.

"The brief makes the apparently compelling argument that the court shouldn’t be hearing this appeal at all because it lacks jurisdiction — that is, the power to consider it in the first place," wrote Litman. "If the court agrees, it would mean dismissing the appeal and returning the case to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, abruptly aborting Trump’s best opportunity to delay the federal Jan. 6 trial."

Chutkan has paused all trial proceedings, even matters such as jury selection, until the immunity question has been settled. The Supreme Court denied a request by Special Counsel Jack Smith to leapfrog over the lower court and consider the matter immediately.

"If the argument succeeds, it will be an appellate version of the sort of Perry Mason moment that rarely happens in a real courtroom," concluded Litman. "With a wave of a jurisdictional wand, Trump would be back in the district court preparing for an only slightly delayed trial."