Former President Donald Trump and his legal team are pushing back on a federal trial date, asking a judge in the D.C. case to delay when it would begin until after the November 2024 U.S. presidential election.
Lawyers filed court documents asking a Washington judge in the case to "respectfully" schedule the trial date for April 2026, to "have sufficient time to advise with counsel and prepare" a defense against the charges of a "serious crime."
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Lawyers for Trump wrote in the request that "The public interest lies in justice and a fair trial, not a rush to judgment."
Trump is currently the front-runner in polling data to be the Republican nominee to lead his party in the next race for the White House. The Washington case involves allegations that the former president sought to attempt to overturn his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden.
In the motion to delay the proposed trial date, attorneys wrote, "This is an unprecedented case in American history. The incumbent administration has targeted its primary political opponent — and leading candidate in the upcoming presidential election — with criminal prosecution. The administration has devoted tens of millions of dollars to this effort, creating a special counsel’s office with dozens of employees, many of whom are apparently assigned full-time to this case, and this case alone."
U.S. Special Council Jack Smith recently asked U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to schedule the trial to start on Jan. 2, 2024, just two weeks before the first votes would be cast in the 2024 Republican presidential primary.
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