Former President Donald Trump is urging the federal judge overseeing the criminal case brought against him by special counsel Jack Smith for election subversion to schedule the trial for April 2026.
In a filing submitted on Thursday evening, Trump is requesting that US District Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington, DC, dismiss Smith's proposal for a January 2024 trial date. Trump's legal team argues that Smith's suggested timeline for the trial is unusually fast, allowing only four months from the commencement of the discovery process to jury selection.
Trump's lawyers assert that the government's intention is evident: to hinder President Trump and his legal team from adequately preparing for trial. They call on the court to reject the government's request and instead propose jury selection and the trial for April 2026. Judge Chutkan is expected to make a decision on the trial start date by the end of the month.
Trump's legal team further contends that Smith's proposed trial timeline would clash with other criminal and civil cases where Trump is a defendant. These include the classified documents case, the New York hush money case, and the Georgia election subversion case.
The attorneys emphasize that President Trump must devote time to prepare for each of these trials in the upcoming months, all of which are intricate and demand significant effort to mount a defense.
They note, "Without question, President Trump’s obligation to diligently prepare for this case does not end because of other pending matters." However, they urge the court to take into account the practical implications of multiple parallel prosecutions on Trump's capacity to meet the government's tight deadlines.
Federal prosecutors had initially requested a trial start date of January 2, 2024, for the 2020 election interference criminal case. The special counsel's office asserted that presenting evidence in the trial would take no longer than four to six weeks and proposed having jury selection completed in December before the winter holidays.
Trump had previously opposed the proposed trial date, arguing that any trials related to the cases against him should be postponed until after the presidential election.