After a hearing on the issue on Thursday, Mr. Pope, who is acting as his own lawyer in the case, said in a brief interview that Judge Contreras decided he did not want to waste judicial resources by holding a trial if Mr. Trump might ultimately wipe out a jury's verdict by granting a pardon.
In delivering both an electoral victory and popular vote majority, the American people gave President Trump a mandate to carry out the agenda he campaigned on, which includes ending the Jan. 6 prosecutions and pardoning those who exercised First Amendment rights at the Capitol, Mr. Pope wrote.
Several Jan. 6 defendants have sought in recent days to push back their trials and other court appearances until after Mr. Trump takes office. But the decision by Judge Rudolph Contreras to delay the trial of William Pope...appeared to be first time that a jurist had postponed a proceeding directly at the request of a defendant who expected Mr. Trump to pardon him.
Federal prosecutors opposed the request, saying that the mere prospect of a presidential pardon was not enough to merit a delay.
Collection
[
|
...
]