Judge Sets Trump’s Multiple Cases Trial to Begin March 4 Next Year 2024
The embattled former US president Donald Trump is still a man under siege as a judge in Washington denied a request from Trump’s legal team for an April 2026 trial and also rebuffed DOJ lawyers who sought to begin the trial as soon as January.
In selecting the date, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan denied a request from the former president’s legal team to push the trial back until April 2026 and also dismissed a proposal from Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith to begin the trial as soon as January.
“These proposals are obviously very far apart,” she said. “Neither of them is acceptable.”
“My primary concern here, as it is in every case, is the interest of justice and that I’ve balanced the defendant’s right to adequately prepare.”
The other cases against him include one in New York state court for hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels, one in federal court in Florida for mishandling classified documents, and one in Georgia state court for leading a racketeering scheme to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election in that state.
Trump has denied wrongdoing in all the cases against him and continues to repeat unfounded claims that the 2020 presidential election was “rigged and stolen.”
“It’s all a BIG LIE,” he posted to his social media site TruthSocial prior to Chutkan setting the trial date.
Trump, the GOP front-runner for the 2024 presidential nomination, faces a four-count indictment that accuses him of interfering with the peaceful transfer of power in the wake of the 2020 presidential election inciting a violent insurrection at the Capitol, and trying to overturn election results thereby regressing US democracy.
