Special counsel asks for short delay in Trump's election interference case

Aug. 9 (UPI) -- Special counsel Jack Smith, who is prosecuting Donald Trump's federal election interference case, has asked for a delay in the proceedings as his team continues to assess the implications of last month's Supreme Court ruling on the former president's immunity claims.

Smith asked U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in a filing Thursday to give both parties until Aug. 30 to submit a joint status report that proposes a schedule for pretrial proceedings. The original due date had been Friday.

The former president has pleaded not guilty to four felony counts, including conspiracy, for attempting to subvert Joe Biden's presidential election, culminating in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

Trump claimed absolute immunity from prosecution as he was president at the time of the alleged offenses. Last month, the Supreme Court issued a controversial ruling stating Trump enjoys broad immunity for acts performed in connection to the presidency, which upended Smith's federal election interference case.

In his filing Thursday, Smith said that while his team continues to assess the new precedent established by the high-court ruling, they have not yet finalized their position on the schedule for both parties to brief issues related to the decision.

"The government therefore respectfully requests additional time to provide the court with an informed proposal regarding the schedule for pretrial proceedings moving forward," Smith wrote. "The defense does not object to the government's request for an extension."

The request seemingly agrees with Trump's litigation strategy, which has appeared to be trying to delay the cases for as long as possible. Trump is the Republican nominee, and if re-elected president in November, he could have the federal cases dismissed.

Trump has been indicted four times.

He was convicted in New York State on 34 counts for doctoring business records to hide hush money payments made to a porn story to prevent her from going public about their alleged affair ahead of the 2016 election. He is to be sentenced next month when he faces up to four years behind bars.

A third case concerning his alleged illegal retention of classified documents was dismissed, but that decision is being appealed.

And in the fourth case, he is being prosecuted in Georgia along with more than a dozen other co-defendants over efforts to undermine the state's 2020 election results.

On his Truth Social social media platform Thursday night, Trump called for the remaining three cases against him to be dismissed.

"It is clear that the Supreme Court's Historic Decision on Immunity demands and requires a Complete and Total Dismissal of ALL the Witch Hunts," he said in a statement.