United States prosecutor Jack Smith has asked a judge in Washington to put on hold all filing deadlines in the federal case accusing Donald Trump, the country’s president-elect, of plotting to overturn the 2020 election. 

Mr Smith’s request to pause the case comes as prosecutors mulled the idea of whether to put the proceedings on hold now that Mr Trump returns to the White House. 

On Friday, Mr Smith told Judge Tanya Chutkan that vacating the schedule of remaining pretrial deadlines will give his team the time to assess “this unprecedented circumstance” of Mr Trump’s electoral victory and determine the appropriate course going forward consistent with Department of Justice policy.”

“By December 2024, the government will file a status report or otherwise inform the court of the result of its deliberations,’ Mr Smith wrote in a filing. 

Although Ms Chutkan endorsed that deadline in her order, she vacated the other deadlines. 

Mr Smith’s filing said “is expected to be certified as president-elect on Jan. 6, 2025, and inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2025.”

“The government respectfully requests that the court vacate the remaining deadlines in the pretrial schedule to afford the government time to assess this unprecedented circumstance and determine the appropriate course going forward consistent with Department of Justice policy,” he said. 

Mr Trump’s win against Vice President Kamala Harris earlier this week was considered a death knell for Mr Smith’s prosecutions of him. 

The president-elect is charged in the case before Ms Chutkan with crimes related to his efforts to undo his loss to President Joe Biden in the 2020 election. 

Mr Trump had been charged with crimes related to retaining classified government records after leaving the White House In early 202q, and with obstructing efforts by officials to recover those documents.