Trump proposes April 2026 trial in criminal election subversion case

WASHINGTON: Former US President Donald Trump has proposed to a federal judge overseeing special counsel Jack Smith’s criminal election subversion case against him to set the trial for April 2026.

In a filing on Thursday evening, Trump urged US District Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington, D.C., to reject Smith’s proposal for a January 2024 trial, saying he “seeks a trial calendar more rapid than most no-document misdemeanors, requesting just four months from the beginning of discovery to jury selection”, CNN reported.

“The government’s objective is clear: to deny President Trump and his counsel a fair ability to prepare for trial. The Court should deny the government’s request,” lawyers for the former President wrote.

They asked the judge to instead set jury selection and the trial for April 2026. Chutkan, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, ultimately will decide the trial start date, a decision she is likely to make by the end of the month.

Trump’s team argued that Smith’s proposed timeline for the trial would conflict with the other criminal and civil cases in which the former president is a defendant, including the classified documents case brought by the special counsel, the hush money case in New York and the Georgia election subversion case. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis wants her trial to begin in March 2024, reports CNN.

The federal judge in the documents case has set that trial for May 2024, while the New York case is set to go to trial in March of next year.

Federal prosecutors had requested to start the 2020 election interference criminal trial on January 2, 2024, days before the anniversary of the attack on the US Capitol and the Iowa caucuses. (IANS)

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