Judge denies Trump legal team’s motion to extend deadline and Trump defamation suit tossed

A federal judge on Saturday denied a request from former President Donald Trump’s legal team for a deadline extension over the handling of evidence in the 2020 election subversion case.

Trump’s lawyers will have to respond by Monday afternoon to the Justice Department’s proposal for a protective order.

John Lauro, an attorney for Trump, told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union” Sunday that Trump’s team intends to keep fighting the requested order.

“The press and the American people in a campaign season have a right to know what the evidence is in this case provided that this evidence is not protected otherwise,” Lauro said.

The decision from US District Judge Tanya Chutkan caps a flurry of activity in the case after special counsel Jack Smith’s team on Friday asked Chutkan to quickly set limits on what Trump’s team can do with the evidence that will be shared with them. Their request pointed to a post by Trump on Truth Social from earlier in the day to argue that the former president has a habit of speaking publicly about the details of the various legal proceedings he’s facing.

“And in recent days, regarding this case, the defendant has issued multiple posts—either specifically or by implication—including the following, which the defendant posted just hours ago,” the special counsel’s office wrote, including a screenshot of the Truth Social post from Trump that read: “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!”

Lauro wouldn’t respond Sunday when Bash asked if he believed Trump should stop some of his public statements lashing out at the special counsel.

After Chutkan on Saturday ordered Trump’s legal team to state its position on the motion by 5 p.m. ET Monday, lawyers for Trump requested more time to weigh in on what restrictions should be imposed. Trump’s lawyers asked to have until Thursday to respond, and suggested a hearing on the matter might be necessary if an agreement with prosecutors isn’t reached.

Smith’s team, however, urged Chutkan to stick to her original Monday deadline, arguing in a Saturday afternoon filing that the request from Trump’s legal team amounted to an “unnecessary delay.”

Prosecutors said they were ready to work quickly to produce discovery in the case, a key step in jump-starting the proceedings, but, they wrote, the defendant is “standing in the way.”

Trump’s team has signaled in the election subversion case – as well as in the separate classified documents case Smith brought against the former president – that they would like to draw out the proceedings. In the documents case, which is playing out in Florida, Trump’s lawyers argued that the trial should wait until after 2024 election – a request that was rebuffed by the judge there.

The most recent back-and-forth previewed what could be months of bitter arguing between Trump’s and Smith’s lawyers over the scheduling in each of the cases.