Washington:
A federal judge in Washington said Monday that former President Donald Trump’s lawyers will not get as much time as they have requested to prepare for a criminal trial on charges of illegally trying to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election.
US District Judge Tanya Chutkan said Trump would have to pursue his legal defense in parallel with his efforts to win the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
His lawyers had requested an April 2026 hearing date, well ahead of the November 2024 presidential election, saying they needed time to work through the government’s evidence. But Chutkan said that she would not delay the trial for so long. “Mr. Trump will have to work on the trial date, regardless of his schedule,” he added.
Chutkan is expected to fix a date for the hearing of the case, which is one of the four ongoing criminal trials against the former president. Special Counsel Jack Smith has proposed starting the trial on January 2, 2024, 11 months before Election Day.
Trump did not attend Monday’s hearing. Trump has portrayed all four criminal prosecutions as politically motivated efforts to prevent him from returning to power. He has pleaded not guilty to three of those counts, according to a court filing released Monday, and is due in a Georgia court on Sept. 6 to enter a plea on the fourth count.
Trump has previously lashed out at Chutkan, saying without any evidence that he is biased against him.
Trump’s lawyers say they need time to sort out the government’s evidence. “This man’s liberty and life is at stake and he deserves adequate representation,” said attorney John Laroche. “We cannot do this in the time frame given by the government,” he said.
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Prosecutors say most of the evidence includes public material, such as Trump’s statements and congressional records. He said Monday that he has handed over most of the evidence in the case, which totals about 12.8 million pages.
Chutkan said that Trump’s legal team should have got off to a good start earlier. “Mr. Trump’s lawyer knew this was happening for some time,” he said.
The upcoming four criminal trials pose major logistical challenges for Trump as he campaigns for a return to the White House.
In Georgia, where Trump faces fraud and other state charges related to alleged efforts to reverse his 2020 defeat, District Attorney Fannie Willis has asked the court to set the date for March 4, 2024.
One of his 18 co-defendants in that case, his former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, is pressing to move his trial to federal court, where he could face a more sympathetic jury.
Trump is already set to stand trial in New York on March 25, 2024, on charges from different states of concealing secret money payments to a porn star. Trump is scheduled to stand trial in Florida on May 20, 2024, on federal charges brought by Smith that allege he illegally retained classified records after leaving the White House and attempted obstruction of justice.
Monday will be the second time Trump’s attorneys will appear before Chutkan to discuss pre-trial logistics. In a previous hearing, Chutkan warned that Trump should stop posting inflammatory statements online about witnesses or others involved in the case.
