D.C. Appeals Court could throw Trump a curveball with SCOTUS out of the way: expert

Reflecting on the Supreme Court's curt denial of special counsel Jack Smith's filing to intercede at the earliest date and rule on whether presidential immunity should be extended to Donald Trump's actions before and during the Jan. 6 riot, former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance presented a "fantasy scenario" that would create problems for the former president's legal team.

On her Civil Discourse Substack platform, Vance pointed out that Trump's attempt to slow-walk his multiple trials with "frivolous" motions that stand no chance of being successful are at the heart of his legal team's strategy. But the judges seated on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit could make their ruling quickly while at the same time giving Judge Tanya Chutkan the go-ahead to proceed with her schedule.

As Vance noted, Chutkan's trial of Trump is dead in the water due to a stay from the court while it considers the issue of presidential immunity and how it applies to Trump's actions.

In her "fantasy scenario," Vance claimed the judges could lift the stay which would take away the ability of Trump to stall his appeal to the Supreme Court and delay the proceedings even more.

"The fantasy scenario obviously depends on a lot of things going right, and it’s too early to have any sense about whether this is even a possibility," the former prosecutor conceded. "Although the court of appeals is on a fast track, we don’t know how long it will take them to issue a decision. Trump will presumably play out the time to ask for rehearing to the full extent possible."

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She suggested, "The court could, perhaps, decide a stay was no longer warranted and permit Judge Chutkan to restart her pretrial proceedings, which could incentivize Trump to move more quickly, but again, there are a lot of different considerations involved and no certainties. The most honest conclusion I can give you tonight is that we just don’t know for sure how the schedule will shape up."

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