Appeals court earlier rules ex-president cannot use immunity defence in E Jean Carroll’s defamation lawsuit

US district court judge Tanya Chutkan has officially stayed all deadlines in Donald Trump’s federal election interference case, pending resolution of his appeal on presidential immunity.

Deadlines in the case are not being vacated, meaning the trial is technically still scheduled for 4 March 2024. Mr Trump is accused of unlawfully trying to overturn his defeat in the 2020 presidential election.

The US Supreme Court has agreed to a request from special counsel Jack Smith to hear the immunity case on an expedited basis.

While that is argued, an appeals court ruling earlier on Wednesday found that Mr Trump cannot assert presidential immunity in the defamation lawsuit brought against him by the writer E Jean Carroll, who has accused him of rape, dealing the former president a fresh legal setback.

The ruling upholds a federal judge’s decision to reject the immunity defence, finding that Mr Trump waited too long to raise it. The trial will now go ahead on 16 January 2024.

These developments come after Mr Trump’s civil fraud trial was wrapped up and while his ex-lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s defamation trial is underway in Washington, DC. Mr Giuliani is expected to take the stand on Thursday.