[Politics]The trial will begin in the middle of the Republican presidential primaries. Special counsel Jack Smith had requested a January trial, while Trump pushed for a 2026 start date.

[El Máster Edwin]

The trial will begin in the middle of the Republican presidential primaries. Special counsel Jack Smith had requested a January trial, while Trump pushed for a 2026 start date.

 

 

WASHINGTON — The judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s election interference case in federal court set a trial date for March 4, 2024, a schedule that could have a crucial impact on the 2024 race for the White House.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan's decision sets the trial in the middle of the Republican presidential primaries and the day before Super Tuesday.

During a hearing on Monday, Chutkan heard arguments from Trump's lawyers and federal prosecutors about when the case could be set for trial. Special counsel Jack Smith proposed that the trial start in January, with jury selection beginning in December of this year, while Trump’s team said the trial should be pushed back until April 2026, after the presidential election.

"These proposals are obviously very far apart," Chutkan said Monday. "Neither of them is acceptable.”

Chutkan said that Trump will have to prioritize the trial and that she wouldn't change the trial schedule based upon another defendant's professional obligations, say, for a professional athlete.

The public has an interest in the fair and timely administration of justice, Chutkan said. Trump's lawyer said that going to trial next year would violate the former president's rights, noting the millions of pages of discovery that prosecutors have turned over.

“This is a request for a show trial, not a speedy trial,” Trump lawyer John Lauro said of the special counsel's proposed schedule. “Mr. Trump is not above the law, but he is not below the law."

After Chutkan made her ruling, Lauro stood to make an objective on the record and state that Trump’s defense team will not be able to adequately represent their client with that trial date. Chutkan noted his objection and moved on.

Earlier in the hearing, Chutkan said that while the special counsel team's proposal was too soon, Trump's proposal of 2026 wasn't reasonable. “Discovery in 2023 is not sitting in a warehouse with boxes of paper looking at every single page,” Chutkan said.

 

Link: Click