U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan has set Aug. 16 as the date for a pretrial conference for former President Donald Trump in the criminal case over his illegal attempt to overturn his 2020 presidential election defeat, a court filing showed on Saturday.
Chutkan’s decision comes a day after she took jurisdiction of the case, which had been stalled for nearly eight months, to allow Trump to seek a ruling on his presidential immunity.
The judge is expected to decide in the coming weeks what to strike from the indictment filed by special counsel Jack Smith after the Supreme Court ruled that former presidents are entitled to broad immunity from official actions while in office.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to four criminal charges of conspiring to overturn his 2020 election loss.
Chutkan said in a court filing that Trump would not be required to appear for the pretrial conference. All parties have been asked to propose a timetable for pretrial proceedings by August 9.
Chutkan rejected Trump's appeal in October to dismiss the charges against him.
Trump will be able to appeal again after all immunity issues are resolved, Reuters reported Chutkan.
After the US Supreme Court's July 1 ruling granting Trump immunity from prosecution for any actions falling within his constitutional powers as president, it will be nearly impossible to proceed with a criminal trial before the US presidential election scheduled for November 5.
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