Dem
49
GOP
51
Yesterday was the latest hearing in Donald Trump's Washington D.C. case, and the first substantive hearing since the Supreme Court decided that U.S. presidents are basically all Louis XIV (L'État, c'est moi). During the hearing, Judge Tanya Chutkan set a fairly aggressive schedule for moving forward.
Naturally, and to the disappointment of many, there will be no trial this year. However, the nation's journalists and pundits will circle September 26 on their calendars. On that day, the prosecution must make a filing that details the evidence they plan to present in the case. The filing will not immediately be made public, but the odds are that a redacted version will eventually be released. September 26 is a Thursday, so an early October publication is a pretty good guess.
Assuming that does happen, then there will be several news cycles dedicated to poring over the evidence and to rehashing the question of whether or not Trump committed a crime. And that will be happening at a time when low-information voters are most likely to be paying attention. One might ask if such a release violates DoJ rules against interfering with an election less than 60 days out. And the answer is that DoJ rules only apply to executive branch employees, which Chutkan is not. She has made clear that a court case is a court case, and she will not play by different rules for Trump just because he's running for office right now.
As a reminder, Trump could well have other big, adverse legal news before there's anything more from Chutkan. In theory, he will be sentenced for his New York felony convictions on September 18 (a Wednesday). He's going to appeal, but there are some people who believe that anyone convicted of a crime should be jailed immediately, while their appeal is resolved. Among those people is Trump campaign Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who said so to The New York Times this week. She intended to criticize Kamala Harris' plans to eliminate cash bail, but—like so many Trumpers—forgot that her candidate is himself a convicted felon. Team Trump's problem is that the events of September are not going to allow the nation's voters to forget. (Z)