BREAKING: Jack Smith asks DC judge to vacate all deadlines in J6 case against Trump

Special Counsel Jack Smith has asked DC Judge Tanya Chutkan to vacate all remaining deadlines in his J6 case against President-elect Donald Trump. Citing the election, Smith said, "The government respectfully requests that the Court vacate the remaining deadlines in the pretrial schedule to afford the Government time to assess this unprecedented circumstance and determine the appropriate course going forward consistent with Department of Justice policy."

This is the second big blow to Smith, who was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to pursue two criminal cases against Trump. Those were a classified documents case that was being tried in a federal court in Florida and the J6 case, over which Chutkan was presiding. Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the classified documents case against Trump after the Supreme Court ruled that presidents have immunity for official acts taken while they were in office.

Smith further advised the court that "By December 2, 2024, the Government will file a status report or otherwise inform the Court of the result of its deliberations. The Government has consulted with defense counsel, who do not object to this request."

It was during the course of proceedings in the J6 case that Trump's attorneys brought the immunity question, on which the Supreme Court eventually weighed in after lower court rulings. After their ruling, three of the criminal cases against Trump, both the two federal cases and one brought by District Attorney Alvin Bragg in New York, in which Trump had already been convicted on 34 spurious felony charges related to allegations of fraudulent business records, were put on hold while judges and attorneys sorted out how the cases were impacted by the Supreme Court's decision. A case against Trump in Georgia was already on hold as a conflict of interest allegation against the lead prosecutor, Fulton County DA Fani Willis, was sorted out.