'Only reporter in Chutkan's courtroom' reveals judge's next steps on Trump trial

Judge Chutkan is reportedly signaling a flexibility that would allow her to easily reschedule Donald Trump's D.C. elections trial, which has fallen off the court's calendar as parties await an appeals court ruling on the former president's claimed absolute immunity.

Chutkan hasn't said much publicly about the Trump trial and the delay that is necessary to determine if the case can continue against the ex-president. But the judge may have given some hints at a minor hearing held earlier on Friday, according to Politico's senior legal affairs reporter, Kyle Cheney.

"I was the only reporter in Chutkan's courtroom earlier today when she made some comments about her upcoming trial calendar," he teased before publication Friday.

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Cheney's report came later. In the article, he quotes Chutkan as saying, "I do not know what my schedule will be in mid-April." According to Cheney, the hearing was for a Jan. 6 defendant who was convicted last year.

"At the short conference, Chutkan didn't explicitly mention Trump's case," Cheney wrote. "But she made clear that she’s keeping her calendar flexible in the event she is able to reschedule it."

The report continues:

"Chutkan recently scheduled the trial of Anthony Mastanduno, another Jan. 6 defendant, to begin on April 2, prompting inferences that she doesn’t anticipate Trump’s trial occurring before the latter half of that month. On Friday, she said she had already told Mastanduno that his trial 'may have to be moved depending on other matters.'"

Read the report here.