The judge overseeing former US President Donald Trump’s election interference case in federal court on Monday set a trial date for March 4, 2024, the day before Super Tuesday, NBC News reports.
During a hearing, US District Judge Tanya 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 later, adding, "Neither of them is acceptable.”
Chutkan added 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 objection 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.
Trump was indicted several weeks ago on four counts related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
The counts are: A conspiracy to defraud the United States "by using dishonesty, fraud and deceit to obstruct the nation’s process of collecting, counting, and certifying the results of the presidential election"; a conspiracy to impede the Jan. 6 congressional proceeding at which the collected results of the presidential election are counted and certified; a conspiracy against the right to vote and to have that vote counted; obstruction of, and attempt to obstruct and impede, the certification of the electoral vote.
In their request for a January trial, federal prosecutors said that start date “would vindicate the public’s strong interest in a speedy trial.
Attorneys for Trump, in their proposal for commencing the trial in April 2026, cited the large amount of discovery in the case as well as Trump's ongoing legal issues in other jurisdictions.