Judge refuses to hold prosecutors in contempt in Trump election case

It was one of the strangest tit-for-tat battles to emerge yet in the federal case accusing former President Donald J. Trump of plotting to undermine the 2020 election.

Even though the proceedings were stayed by Judge Tanya S. Chutkan as Mr. Trump tries to dismiss the charges with broad claims of immunity, prosecutors, in an effort to move the case forward, have continued to file motions and transferring evidence. The former president's lawyers angrily accused them of violating the judge's order and eventually became so irritated that they asked for prosecutors to be held in contempt.

After simmering for a month, the dispute was resolved Thursday when Judge Chutkan, who is hearing the case in Federal District Court in Washington, issued an order saying she would not punish anyone with a finding of contempt.

Still, in what felt like an attempt to ease tensions between the defense and the prosecution, the judge told both sides to stop filing “substantial” motions without first asking for permission.

From the start, the row over the charges and disclosures seemed like the kind of petulant but ultimately innocent one-upmanship that often occurs in high-profile criminal cases. But it also reflected a much more consequential fight over the timing of the case and whether it will go to trial in March as planned.

It all started last month when prosecutors for the special counsel, Jack Smith, sent Mr. Trump's legal team a draft list of exhibits and a modest batch of discovery materials, even though Judge Chutkan had ordered all deadlines in the case pushed back just days to suspend. for.

Hours later, Mr. Trump's lawyers responded with allegations that prosecutors had “illegally attempted to advance this case.” They pointed out that the proceedings had been frozen until Mr. Trump completed his efforts to challenge the charges on immunity grounds, and alleged that the administration was wrongly trying to rush the case to trial.

Undeterred, Mr. Smith's team filed a motion two weeks later aimed at preventing Mr. Trump from making “baseless political claims” during the election interference trial. This time, Mr. Trump's lawyers said they wanted Judge Chutkan to hold Mr. Smith and two of his top deputies in contempt.

The judge declined to do so in her order Thursday, noting that the government had neither violated the “clear and unambiguous terms” of her earlier order to pause the case nor “acted in bad faith.”

Judge Chutkan emphasized that the fact that she had adhered to all deadlines in the case did not mean that she had expressly prohibited the parties from adhering to them. If Mr. Smith and his subordinates wanted to voluntarily comply, they could do so, she wrote, adding that lawyers for Mr. Trump did not have to respond.

Judge Chutkan added a caveat, however, as the purpose of the stay was to relieve Mr. Trump “of the burdens of trial preparation and other preliminary investigations.”

She told both sides that they must seek her permission before filing any further “substantial preliminary motions.”