Jack Smith Seeks Pause in Jan. 6 Case After Trumps Election

The special counsel, Jack Smith, asked a judge in Washington on Friday to put on hold all filing deadlines in the federal case accusing President-elect Donald J.Trump of plotting to overturn the 2020 election.The request to freeze the case for nearly a month comes as prosecutors are mulling whether to pursue the proceeding at all now that Mr.

Trump is returning to the White House.The defendant, Mr.Smith’s filing said, “is expected to be certified as president-elect on Jan.

6, 2025, and inaugurated on Jan.20, 2025.”“The government respectfully requests that the court vacate the remaining deadlines in the pretrial schedule,” Mr.

Smith’s deputies went on, “to afford the government time to assess this unprecedented circumstance and determine the appropriate course going forward consistent with Department of Justice policy.”The prosecutors asked for a new deadline — Dec.2 — for the government to file “a status report or otherwise inform the court of the result of its deliberations.”A longstanding Justice Department policy bars the prosecution of sitting presidents.

Mr.Smith has already opened discussions with department leaders about how best to wind down both the election interference case and the other federal case he pursued against Mr.

Trump — the one in Florida in which he was accused of illegally holding on to classified documents after he left office.The request to pause the case in Washington was the first overt sign that Mr.Smith and his team are in the throes of figuring out how to shut down the two prosecutions.Prosecutors asked Judge Tanya S.

Chutkan, who is overseeing the election case, to push off the deadlines now because Mr.Trump’s lawyers were scheduled to send her a critical court filing on Nov.

21.In that filing, Mr.Trump’s lawyers were expected to lay out a detailed argument for why Mr.

Trump should not face trial at all on the election interference charges because of the Supreme Court’s ruling this summer grant...