judge Tanya chuin has just adjourned adjourn
today's uh Hearing in a federal courtroom here in Washington on the federal subversion case
against Donald Trump CNN's senior crime and Justice reporter Caitlyn pance was inside the
courtroom throughout this entire process this morning give us a little flavor of what was
going on inside we saw your reporting and we were putting on the left part of our screen
during the course of this hearing yeah well there were a couple things to note here the first
is that moment where judge Tanya chuin jumped in there was a spicy banter going on between her and
Donald Trump's Attorney John Loro about how long it should take for everyone to get together all
of the evidence The Briefing the legal arguments to talk about presidential immunity Trump's team
obviously wanted to slow things down they were going back and forth very quickly in the courtroom
so much so that the court reporter had to say hold on you're talking over one another judge and
defense attorney and then John Loro said you know there's a very sensitive time in our nation's
history and that's when you could see he lost the judge judge Tanya chuckin sat back in her chair
she sighed and then she put a finger up stopped the banter took a pause and said let's discuss
what the sensitive Time Is Here the election is not relevant to the timeline and that just
put a different flavor across the courtroom of the discussions about timing here and she pulled
it back to say we're going to talk about what's actually needed what I can do here and how to
move this forward she didn't put a trial date on the calendar and she didn't put a timeline down
yet she does say she is going to set one up for later today uh hopefully if she can put that out
but what the the subtext here she didn't want that that this is not about the presidential election
Donald Trump running for presidency and whether or not the justice department is able to put forward
evidence before November the other thing I want to point out here wolf is there was a lightness to
this proceeding nobody has been in this courtroom before judge chuckin since last October and even
Jack Smith we haven't seen him in a courtroom for some time he was there today his beard is
a lot longer than the last time I remember seeing him judge chuckin her hair it's lighter
and even at the beginning of this proceeding she said everybody looks rested and there was
laughter across the courtroom WF she did she did underscore what we all know about Judge chuin she
is tough she is very very smart uh and she uh does not want any really uh Ser uh unserious business
to emerge during the court of this during the course of this uh trial uh Caitlyn pance excellent
work as usual thank you let's talk more about this now with former Federal prosecutor Elliot
Williams and former Trump attorney Tim parlor uh okay Elliot who who prevailed more today what do
you think we'll see and a lot of that is going to depend on this first wave of decisions or rulings
that comes from the judge in terms of the timeline now certainly she's not going to set uh a schedule
this is as Paula had noted but how are they going to decide these some of these questions about
immunity and which evidence is going to be in and out how and the process for which she sets up
there is really going to decide who the big winner is today but look this isn't going anywhere
anytime soon there's a lot of big decisions that need to be made Tim what's your take on
who had the advantage today in arguments in court I mean I agree with Ellie it's one of
those things where they made the arguments the judge didn't decide and ultimately the the
thing that's kind of the most immediate concern is what is the next briefing schedule going to be
and both sides have argued over essentially who's going to file their brief first on the immunity
issue you know traditionally it is something where the defense will file a motion first the
government then resp responds the defense gets a reply uh here special council's office has
suggested kind of reversing the order letting them go first and having the defense reply and
then giving special counsel the last word and I think that you know the subtext that they
were trying to get into there is if you do it that way right now this close to the election
you're essentially dictating which side gets to put their argument not only before the
court but also before the public you know in what order before the election so yeah
ultimately we'll see what the judge decides on that Tim do you think the Judge seems
inclined to accept the indictment as it is or do you think that the special councel is going
to have to do some significant tinkering with it well she's definitely not going to accept it
just simply as is without proper briefing and potentially hearings you know that that I think
she made very clear that this is something the Supreme Court wants her to go through a detailed
analysis before she even gets to that point and I do think that they have uh they've cut it down
significantly there's a lot of things that you know were immune under the Supreme Court case law
that have been taken out but there may still be a few things that she decides to cut out a little
bit further so I I do think that there's going to be you know just a little bit more shaving to
go on Elliot on how this is weighed it seems like the special Council says we can do this through
legal briefings the Trump team is like no let's have hearings let's discuss this further obviously
one would put the case back even further than it is now as Paula pointed out potentially into
next fall is there going to be a mix how do you foresee that play for um you know it's uh I
think the Judge has acknowledged that we're not seeing a trial anytime soon that's why she's very
clear about not setting a trial date because of the number of issues now the prosecutors have
been clear that they can that they ought to be able to just lay out this is the evidence that
we think ought to support the indictment that we've supported here let's put that on paper and
then after that we can debate what's immune and what isn't the defense wants to drag things out a
little bit more um by sort of um having a series in effect of Min hearings or or mini disputes
again that's all the things that the judge has to sort out in the next you we might even see
something today uh you I don't want to people get too excited but um you know just at least
in terms of a preliminary um outlining of what what the next timeline is going to be what did you
think Elliot about how she said this court is not concerned with the timing of the election and how
realistic that is when you Can't Ignore at least politically that there is an election it's like
getting the band back together Brianna because you know you and I and Boris we talked about this
a lot in the spring and fall and I and I have long taken the view that we have a political calendar
but also the legal system doesn't need to bend the knee to that but of course we don't live in
fantasy lawyer land we live in a world where there are elections and people care about what happens
uh in in in these legal cases and so she's right uh well anybody pardon me anybody who believes
or says that we ought to think about elections is right it's it's true it's it's reality but
the judge has a job to do and her job is to is to make decisions that adhere to the rule of
law and not you know what's best for voters on on November 5th Tim it seems like one of the angles
of attack for the Trump team on this is going to mimic what we saw play out uh in Florida in the
classified documents case one of the arguments is going to be that special counsel Jack Smith
was unduly appointed that that his appointment itself is illegal how successful do you think
that argument is going to be before judge chuin oh it's not going to be successful at
all in front of her you know the DC circuit case law on this is very unfavorable to
the president's position uh but you know the reason he was successful in Florida is in
part because that DC case law wasn't binding on Florida and so I think that for that argument
to ultimately succeed it's not going to succeed in front of Judge chuckin it's not going to
succeed at the DC circuit it may succeed in the um in the uh Florida case on appeal up to
the up to the circuit and then ultimately to the Supreme Court to where if they Prevail
there then that decision can essentially be you know Dro back down to Chuck him but as far
as succeeding in this courtroom not a chance