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Judge grants Jack Smith delay in Trump Jan. 6 case – Washington Examiner

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Judge grants Jack Smith delay in Trump Jan. 6 case – Washington Examiner


Judge Tanya Chutkan granted special counsel Jack Smith‘s request on Friday to delay proceedings in his election interference case against former President Donald Trump.

Chutkan postponed a hearing, initially scheduled for next week, until Sept. 5, according to a court order. The judge also pushed out the next deadline for court filings from Friday until the end of August, meaning the first substantive activity in the case likely will not occur until that time.

Both delays came in response to a surprise request from government prosecutors on Thursday to slow proceedings following the Supreme Court thrusting the case into a state of uncertainty with its ruling in July on presidential immunity.

Prior to the ruling, Smith had been eager to move the case along, repeatedly moving to expedite proceedings. At one point last year, for example, Smith asked the high court to step in and rule on immunity before the lower court had made a decision on it, anticipating that Trump would eventually take his argument to the Supreme Court anyways. The justices rejected Smith’s request.

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Prosecutors for Smith wrote Thursday in their postponement request that they are continuing to “assess the new precedent set forth last month in the Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. United States … including through consultation with other Department of Justice components.”

The prosecutors said those consultations were “well underway” but that the DOJ had not yet finalized its position on how to proceed with Trump’s case.

Chutkan’s order came as expected after Trump’s defense team signed onto Smith’s request, signaling the parties were in agreement on pushing the dates out.

Chutkan, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, has taken a relatively aggressive approach to the case by rejecting many of Trump’s prior requests and maintaining a pace with deadlines and hearing dates that some have described as a “rocket docket.”

Within 48 hours of receiving the order from the Supreme Court, Chutkan issued several decisions on it. The choice of the first week of September was of the earliest possible dates she could have chosen and signals she is aiming to continue to move the case along as rapidly as possible after it sat dormant for months while the immunity argument was pending before the Supreme Court.

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During the hearing, Chutkan and both parties are set to hammer out a pre-trial schedule, now that the landscape of the case has changed.

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The Supreme Court’s immunity ruling is expected to weaken Smith’s case drastically. The special counsel must now excise key items from his indictment, such as references to Trump’s interactions with his DOJ, so that it aligns with the high court’s decision that certain presidential activities are immune from criminal prosecution and also cannot be used as evidence against Trump.

Smith was supposed to give his first indication on Friday of how he plans to press forward with his charges in the wake of the new complications, but he now has three extra weeks to do this.



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The Fallout From the Epstein Files

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The Fallout From the Epstein Files


The Department of Justice is facing scrutiny this week after it was revealed that records involving President Trump were missing from the public release of the Epstein files. On Washington Week With The Atlantic, panelists joined to discuss the ensuing political fallout for the Trump administration, and more.

“The key thing to remember about the Epstein story is that it is a case that has been mishandled for decades. The reason that we’re hearing about this now and why it’s exploding into public view is because, for the first time, Republicans in Congress and Democrats in Congress were willing to openly defy their leadership and call for the release of these files,” Sarah Fitzpatrick, a staff writer at The Atlantic, said last night. “That has never been done before, and I think it really is changing the political landscape in ways that we’re still just starting to learn.”

“What’s been so striking is how many of those very same Republicans who were calling for the release of those files, who had promised to get to the bottom of them, are now saying things that are just the opposite,” Stephen Hayes, the editor of The Dispatch, argued.

Joining guest moderator Vivian Salama, a staff writer at The Atlantic, to discuss this and more: Andrew Desiderio, a senior congressional reporter at Punchbowl News; Fitzpatrick; Hayes; and Tarini Parti, a White House reporter at The Wall Street Journal.

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Watch the full episode here.



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Man charged with shooting co-worker in Washington Heights

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Man charged with shooting co-worker in Washington Heights


A 26-year-old man had an argument with a co-worker before allegedly fatally shooting the colleague in Washington Heights, prosecutors said Friday.

Bobby Martin, who was charged with first-degree murder Thursday, made his first appearance Friday in Cook County court.

Martin, is accused of killing his co-worker, Antoine Alexander, 32, in a parking lot at 9411 S Ashland Ave about 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, according to Chicago police.

Prosecutors said Martin and Alexander worked together at an armed security company and got into a verbal altercation inside the guard shack on Tuesday afternoon. During the altercation, prosecutors said Alexander removed his bullet proof vest and threw it to the ground. A witness, another co-worker, then told the defendant and the victim to take the altercation outside.

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After stepping outside, the defendant pulled his firearm and fired one shot into the victims abdomen, prosecutors said. The victim’s firearm was holstered at the time of the argument and the shooting. The defendant fled the scene and came into contact with another co-worker, whom he told that he had just shot Alexander.

Alexander was then taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead.

Martin was arrested by authorities three blocks from his home approximately 20 minutes after the shooting, prosecutors said.

Martin was detained and will appear in court again on March 17, authorities said.

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Washington Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury announces she’s pregnant

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Washington Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury announces she’s pregnant


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Washington Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury has announced that she and her husband Matt are expecting a baby in July.

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The couple made the announcement in a video on the Spirit’s social media channels, holding a baby goalkeeper jersey on the pitch at Audi Field.

Kingsbury becomes the most recent Spirit star to go on maternity leave, following defender Casey Krueger, midfielder Andi Sullivan and forward Ashley Hatch.

Sullivan gave birth to daughter Millie in July, while Hatch welcomed her son Leo in January.

Krueger announced she was pregnant with her second child in October.

Kingsbury has served as the Spirit’s starting goalkeeper since 2018, and has been named the NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year twice (2019 and 2021).

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The 34-year-old has two caps with the U.S. women’s national team, and was named to the 2023 World Cup roster.

The club captain will leave a major void for the Spirit, who have finished as NWSL runner-up in back-to-back seasons.

Sandy MacIver and Kaylie Collins are expected to compete for the starting role while Kingsbury is on maternity leave.

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The Spirit kick off their 2026 campaign on March 13 against the Portland Thorns.





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