It's Not a Date: Trump's DC Trial Removed From March 4 Docket

In a not-terribly-surprising move, D.C. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan has now formally vacated the March 4, 2024, trial setting in the federal criminal case brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith against former president Donald Trump regarding alleged 2020 election interference.

A federal judge in Washington formally postponed Donald Trump’s March trial on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election as a key legal appeal from the former president continues to work its way through the courts.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Friday vacated the March 4 trial date in the case brought by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith but did not immediately set a new date. The move creates an opening for a separate case in New York, charging Trump in connection with hush money payments to a porn actor, to proceed first.
The postponement comes as a federal appeals court has yet to resolve a pending appeal from Trump arguing that he is immune from prosecution for actions he took in the White House. It is not clear when the three-judge panel might rule, but a ruling in favor of prosecutors that permits the case to move forward is expected to be appealed by the Trump team, likely resulting in additional delays.

The minute entry documenting the removal of the case from the March 4 docket is brief:

MINUTE ORDER as to DONALD J. TRUMP: The February 9, 2024 administration of a written questionnaire to prospective jurors, as set forth in the court's [130] Order, is hereby VACATED. In addition, the March 4, 2024 trial set by the court's [39] Pretrial Order, as amended, is hereby VACATED. The court will set a new schedule if and when the mandate is returned. Signed by Judge Tanya S. Chutkan on 2/2/2024. (zjd)

Once the immunity issue was appealed, there was good reason to believe that the speedy March 4th setting might be in peril, despite Smith's efforts to hustle the process along.

When whispers that the trial setting may have been vacated started swirling Thursday evening, the X/Twitter lawyers came out in full force with all manner of speculation as to what was afoot, with some even contending that Jack Smith was performing some nefarious wizardry.

While that all sounds terribly intriguing, the actual explanation is rather mundane, as set forth by RedState's own Shipwreckedcrew (basically, the trial can't proceed while the immunity issue is on appeal):

Everyone posting theories about why the US v. Trump DC case was removed from the March 3 calendar -- which I noted here yesterday -- are making clowns of yourself. Your GUESSES are idiotic.

Tomorrow was the day the Juror questionnaires were supposed to be returned to the Court…
— Shipwreckedcrew (@shipwreckedcrew) February 2, 2024

Everyone posting theories about why the US v. Trump DC case was removed from the March 3 calendar -- which I noted here yesterday -- are making clowns of yourself. Your GUESSES are idiotic.
Tomorrow was the day the Juror questionnaires were supposed to be returned to the Court by prospective jurors and given to the parties.
Was a questionnaire ever prepared? No -- the case has been stayed. So no questionnaires will be received.
There were procedures in place to review the questionnaires over the next several days, and each side was make requests as to which jurors to excuse without the need for them to come to court for jury selection.
None of that is happening.
Also, the logistics of bringing in several hundred prospective jurors is daunting. The DC District Court is not that big. Doing that requires a lot of preplanning by Court staff. Has any of that been done? Probably not.
Were juror summonses even sent out to several hundred prospective jurors -- maybe, or maybe not.
THESE are the NUTS AND BOLTS details of how a jury trial happens. You don't just have hundreds of people spontaneously walk through the door on the first day of trial as prospective jurors.
If none of it has taken place, then it has been a "given" for weeks that the trial would not start as scheduled on 3/4.
But there was the possibility that 3/4 could have been used as the date to get the juror questionnaire sent out at least. But because Trump is not obligated to participate at all in trial prep activities while the case is pending on appeal, the questionnaire has never been done.
One of the first questions is "Do you have any plans that would make it impossible for you to be a juror from March 3 to May 3?"
Well, you can't send that out until you know what the start date will be.
So all you supposedly "In the know" X-sters, just stop posting nonsensical conspiracy theories about why the Court -- NOT JACK SMITH -- removed the trial from the March 4 calendar.

To be clear, this does not mean that the case is dismissed or going anywhere — just that it won't proceed to trial on March 4th, as originally scheduled. (In nearly 30 years of trial practice, I'm not sure I recall a single case that wound up being tried on its originally set date — certainly not any jury trials.)

As indicated, the case has not been reset for trial — and likely won't be until the immunity issue is resolved on appeal.