Attorneys for former President Trump have asked U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to set the trial date for April 2026 in his federal criminal case surrounding the 2020 election.
In a court filing Thursday evening, Trump attorneys urged the judge to reject Special Counsel Jack Smith’s proposed trial date of January 2, 2024, asserting that the federal prosecutor “seeks a trial calendar more rapid than most no-document misdemeanors, requesting just four months from the beginning of discovery to jury selection.”
Trump attorneys further asserted, “The government’s objective is clear: to deny President Trump and his counsel a fair ability to prepare for trial.”
The Trump attorneys’ filing came the same day that an attorney former Department of Justice official Jeffrey Clark asked a judge to reject Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ request for a March 4 trial date in her sweeping racketeering case surrounding the 2020 election in Georgia. Clark is one of 19 co-defendants, including Trump, charged with racketeering by Willis.
Clark’s attorney said the proposed schedule by Willis, a Democrat, “could be interpreted as an attempt to stake out a place at the head of the line of prosecutors seeking the ‘prize’ of trying the former President before the 2024 presidential election.”
Willis said she has issued arrest warrants against all 19 co-defendants and given them all until Friday, August 25 to “voluntarily surrender.”
Trump is facing 13 of the total 41 criminal counts in the Georgia indictment and four criminal counts in the 2020 election federal indictment.
Trump had planned a news conference for this coming Monday that he claimed would reveal new “evidence” of election fraud in Georgia, but on Thursday he canceled the event, citing the advice of his lawyers.
PHOTO: Trump arrives in DC for federal arraignment, August 3
