Trump camp aims to 'ice' Judge Tanya Chutkan's attempts to hold ex-president's election obstruction criminal trial before election day

Donald Trump's camp aims to 'ice' Judge Tanya Chutkan's attempts to hold his criminal trial before election day, a source has said.

The former president's attorneys may use his Mar-a-Lago unclassified documents case in Florida to pose new challenges in the two criminal cases he is facing to create improved campaign conditions, according to a report from CNN.

Trump and his lawyers have been clear about their efforts to stop him from being tried in federal court before the November election. 

A core aim for Trump's legal team is to hinder Judge Chutkan – the judge overseeing Trump's election subversion case in Washington, D.C. – from starting the trial before the election, people familiar with his team's legal strategy told the publication. The case could pose a challenge Trump's chances of serving a second term as president.

'Meaning, ice her,' one of the sources told CNN. 'Making it impossible for her to jam a trial down before the election, by things that are out of her control.'

The election subversion case was initially set by Chutkan to start trial on March 4, but appeals have meant that it has been delayed indefinitely. 

One way to hinder Chutkan is to convince Aileen Cannon, the judge in Florida, to reschedule Trump's Mar-a-Lago document mishandling trial from late May until the summer, CNN reports.

Republican presidential candidate and former president Donald Trump yells on stage at a campaign rally in Waterford Township, Michigan, on February 17, 2024

A core aim is to hinder Tanya Chutkan – the judge overseeing Trump's election subversion case in Washington, D.C. – from starting the trial before the election 

'The Special Counsel seeks urgently to force President Trump into a months-long criminal trial at the height of campaign season, effectively sidelining him and preventing him from campaigning against the current President,' his legal team recently wrote to the Supreme Court.

Towards the summer, the Mar-a-Lago case may require Cannon to then push the trial back at different points due to the legal complexities surrounding classified documents that have yet to be worked out, people familiar with the case told the publication.

Despite both Cannon and Chutkan declining to reschedule the date of the respective trials that they are overseeing past the election in November, Cannon has made it clear that she may consider pushing the date back from May 20.

'I have a cynical take on the trial date, which is I think Judge Cannon was trying to use it as a blocker, meaning that it was sitting there and it was a day that she had said to put restrictions on where other people could move,' said former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann, who served on special counsel Bob Mueller's team.

Cannon has already been blasted for expressing a bias towards Trump's defense team and for making an effort to prolong the case.

But Chutkan is an appointee of the Obama era who has already ruled against Trump's presidential immunity claim.

'Whatever immunities a sitting president may enjoy, the United States has only one chief executive at a time, and that position does not confer a lifelong "get-out-of-jail-free" pass,' Chutkan wrote in December. 'Former presidents enjoy no special conditions on their federal criminal liability.'

Chutkan 'might have him on trial the day of the election. If she wants to do that, we might as well just make Trump president right now,' one source told CNN. 

Trump, his lawyers, and co-defendants will appear before Cannon in a hearing on Friday. Special counsel Jack Smith and his team of prosecutors will also be in attendance.

Rioters loyal to president Donald Trump at the US Capitol in Washington, on January 6, 2021

One way to hinder Chutkan is to convince Aileen Cannon, the judge in Florida, to reschedule Trump's Mar-a-Lago document mishandling trial from late May until the summer, according to a report 

It is expected to cover scheduling issues but other significant tensions in the case could be discussed, CNN reports.

Sources familiar with the former president's legal strategy told the publication that his team is considering asking Cannon to push the trial date back to July, so that Chutkan may be unable to schedule the Washington D.C. trial before November. 

The special counsel and Chutkan have both said they believe Trump's federal election case should be quickly seen by a jury.

'[Trump's] personal interest in postponing trial proceedings must be weighed against two powerful countervailing considerations: the government's interest in fully presenting its case without undue delay; and the public's compelling interest in a prompt disposition of the case,' the Justice Department wrote to the Supreme Court recently.

'The charges here involve applicant's alleged efforts to disenfranchise tens of millions of voters,' the special counsel's office added. 

'The national interest in resolving those charges without further delay is compelling.'

Chutkan was appointed to the US District Court for the District of Columbia in June 2014. 

She donated thousands of dollars towards Obama's campaign, records show.