Judge puts Trump’s election interference case on hold

The News

A judge moved to freeze the prosecution of Donald Trump over his election interference Friday, the likely first step towards ending the federal case accusing the president-elect of plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

The Justice Department’s special counsel Jack Smith had asked a judge overseeing the case to pause the case, requesting a month to “assess this unprecedented circumstance.” US District Judge Tanya Chuktan said the administration would have until Dec. 2 to update the court on its deliberations.

The Justice Department has a longstanding policy against prosecuting sitting presidents, and has already started to discuss how to wind down the two federal cases against Trump after his election this week, NBC reported.

Trump is also scheduled to be sentenced in New York on Nov. 26 after being found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records in a criminal case against him. His lawyers have argued that the case should be thrown out due to a recent Supreme Court ruling expanding presidential immunity.