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WASHINGTON: A tense hearing has unfolded in one of former United States President Donald Trump’s four criminal cases, as his defence team questioned the legitimacy of the proceedings.

The hearing took place before US District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington, DC, where the 78-year-old Trump faces four felony counts for attempting to overturn the 2020 US presidential election.

The first ballots for the US election were slated to go out to voters Friday, two months ahead of what looks set to be a photo finish.

The closely fought battleground state of North Carolina was expected to distribute around 130,000 absentee voting slips, with a presidential debate—the next likely campaign inflection point—set for next week.

Early in-person voting will start as soon as September 20 in some states.

At court, Trump himself was not present at the proceedings. But from the outset, defence lawyer John Lauro cast doubt on the validity of the charges and the timing of the case.

“We may be dealing with an illegitimate indictment from the get-go,” Lauro told the court.

He also asserted that a recent Supreme Court decision granting presumptive immunity to a range of presidential actions should result in the case’s outright dismissal.

“We want an orderly process that does justice to the Supreme Court opinion,” he said.

Judge Chutkan laid out a calendar in the election interference case against Trump, teeing up a series of legal battles in the days before and beyond the November 5 presidential vote.

Judge Tanya Chutkan (right) and Trump.

Lauro called the proceedings “enormously prejudicial” to Trump, who is currently running as the Republican nominee in the 2024 presidential election.

“This process is inherently unfair, particularly during this sensitive time,” Lauro told Chutkan.

The judge quickly shot back, saying her concern was only the four criminal counts in front of her court. “The timing of the election,” she explained, was “not relevant” to her decisions.

“This court is not concerned with the electoral schedule,” she said. “That’s not something I’m going to consider.”

Chutkan said she was currently unable to set a date for a trial of the former president on charges he conspired to overturn the 2020 election he lost to Joe Biden.

But Chutkan, in a written order following the first court hearing in the case in nearly a year, sketched out a schedule for pretrial proceedings over the next two months.

Chutkan ordered Special Counsel Jack Smith, who brought the charges against Trump, to file a brief by September 26 on how the Supreme Court ruling affects the case against the former president.

Trump’s lawyers, who have asked for the case to be dismissed based on the immunity ruling, were given until October 17 to reply. Prosecutors then have until October 29 to respond.

Chutkan also granted a request by Trump’s lawyers to file a motion to dismiss the case on the grounds that Smith was unlawfully appointed.

They used that same argument to get another federal judge, a Trump appointee, to throw out a case against Trump for mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House.

Chutkan appeared sceptical during Thursday’s hearing but said Trump’s lawyers could file their motion by October 24. Prosecutors were given until October 31 to reply and Trump’s lawyers must respond by November 7. 

Lauro pushed back throughout the hearing. “We’re talking about the presidency of the United States,” he said at one point.

But Chutkan was quick to tamp down that argument. “I’m not talking about the presidency of the United States. I’m talking about a four-count indictment,” she replied.