Judge rejects Trump’s attempt to dismiss Washington DC case over selective prosecution claim

In her second ruling since taking over Donald Trump’s election interference case, Judge Tanya Chutkan denied the former president’s motion to dismiss the case because of selective and vindictive prosecutions.

Chutkan found “no evidence” that prosecutors abused their authority or behaved vindictively in bringing charges against the former president.

In rejecting Trump’s motion, Chutkan criticized what she called Trump’s “inappropriate presentation” that the allegations against him are a “theory … that it is illegal to contest the outcome of an election and work with others to propose alternate electors.”

“At this point, the court cannot accept the defendant’s alternative narrative,” Chutkan wrote.

Before the federal case was frozen for more than six months, defense attorneys sought to have the case dismissed by arguing that Trump was selectively prosecuted and unfairly targeted “to prevent him from ever becoming ‘the next president’ again.”

“After reviewing the defendant’s evidence and arguments, the court cannot conclude that he has met his burden of proving either actual vindictiveness or the presumption thereof, and therefore finds no basis to dismiss this case on these grounds,” Chutkan wrote in a 16-page order.

Chutkan concluded that Trump failed to provide evidence on either prong of the two-part test for selective prosecution — that he was singled out for prosecution or that the case was motivated by a discriminatory purpose.

“Finding no evidence of discriminatory purpose in the sources cited by the defendant, the court is left with his unsupported assertions that these lawsuits must be politically motivated because they co-exist with his campaign for president,” Chutkan wrote.

Earlier in the day, Chutkan set a hearing for August 16 at 10 a.m., which Trump is not required to attend.

This will be the first time in seven months that the parties will appear before Chutkan’s court. Chutkan also rejected Trump’s motion to dismiss the case on legal grounds.

Last year, Trump pleaded not guilty to charges that he led a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election by enlisting a list of so-called “fake voters,” using the Justice Department to conduct “bogus election crime investigations,” trying to enlist the vice president to “change the election results,” and promoting false claims of a stolen election as the January 6 riots raged — all in an effort to subvert democracy and stay in power.

The former president has denied any wrongdoing.

Trump’s trial was originally scheduled for March 4, but his appeal put the proceedings on hold.