FILE – Republican former President Donald Trump speaks at a primary election night party, Jan. 23, 2024 (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
Matt Rourke/AP
This week on Trump’s Trials, host Scott Detrow and Domenico Montanaro are joined by Justice Correspondent Carrie Johnson.
Carrie shares new reporting she has on the possible timeline for the federal election interference case. We also discuss Super Tuesday results and if exit polling gives us an indication on how Republican voters are thinking about former President Donald Trump’s legal troubles.
Carrie’s takeaway:
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on immunity on April 25th and I have some new reporting on possible timelines. Everything depends on when the Supreme Court issues a ruling in this case. A lot of people have been talking about needing some 80-odd days for the pre-trial proceedings, but my new reporting suggests people are making too much of that. The pre-trial time period might get cut down to four to six weeks. But if the Supreme Court hands the case back down to district court for further consideration, it effectively prevents the case from going to trial this year.
Although the Supreme Court’s decision on the Colorado ballot case was unanimous there were some notable differences among the justices. Five of the conservatives justices went further in their decision than the liberal justices wanted to go and that’s notable. The court agreed that a state cannot disqualify a federal candidate but the majority went on to suggest Congress would need to pass some special law to remove a candidate. And its really hard to see Congress doing that.
Domenico’s takeaway:
Trump essentially swept Super Tuesday winning 14 of the 15 states. With Nikki Haley dropping out he is the presumptive Republican nominee. But his grip on the party may not be as solid as he would like. Exit polling out of Virginia, North Carolina and California showed roughly a third of Republican voters said if Trump was convicted he would not be fit to be president, making delaying these trials essential to his election chances.
Source: npr
