On Thursday, Judge Tanya Chutkan presided over the first hearing in the January 6 case against 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump since the Supreme Court’s July 1 ruling on presidential immunity. During the hearing, Trump’s attorney, John Lauro, entered a not guilty plea on behalf of Trump, who was not in attendance.
After confirming Trump’s plea, Chutkan stated, “I will consider his arraignment for the superseding indictment to be complete,” to which Lauro affirmed, “That is right,” according to CNN.
Special counsel Jack Smith filed a superseding indictment against Trump on August 27. This indictment includes the same four counts from the original 2023 indictment but is adjusted in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling. The ruling clarified that while a president has absolute immunity for core constitutional powers, this immunity does not extend to unofficial acts.
A court filing on Tuesday indicated that Trump would plead not guilty and would waive his “right to be present at Arraignment.”
During the hearing, Judge Chutkan highlighted two key issues to address: how to resolve the immunity question and what the case schedule would look like moving forward.