Special counsel Jack Smith has proposed Jan. 2, 2024, as the date to start former President Donald Trump’s trial in the case involving his efforts to reverse the results of the 2020 election. Jury selection would start as early as Dec. 11, based on the proposed schedule.
In an Aug. 10 court filing, Mr. Smith argued that the date would give the defendant enough time to review the voluminous evidence in the case while ensuring the public’s interest in a speedy trial.
It may be in President Trump’s interest to have the case resolved after the 2024 election, while his opponents may want to see a conviction as soon as possible.
The defense appears to have been building the case that the prosecutors and the presiding judge, District Judge Tanya Chutkan, are improperly rushing the case.
Just last week, the judge gave the defense only three days over the weekend to respond to Mr. Smith’s request for a gag order that would prevent President Trump from publicly discussing the evidence provided to him by the prosecutors.
The regular rule in the District of Columbia federal courts gives parties 14 days to respond.
“Without doubt, the Court’s decision to vary from the default Local Rules and allow President Trump less than one business day to respond to this important Motion is a concerning development, inconsistent with his due process rights,” President Trump’s lawyers wrote in the response, asking the judge to provide the normal 14 days in the future.
That same day, the judge ordered the parties to offer her two dates, no later than Aug. 11, for a hearing on the gag order. While the defense asked for an Aug. 14–15 date, the judge wouldn’t oblige, setting the hearing for Aug. 11.
President Trump is already facing a March 2024 trial date for state charges brought against him in New York and another trial set for May in another federal case litigated in Florida by Mr. Smith.
The Florida case is being handled by District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, who has already questioned the prosecutors for trying to set the trial date in the case for December, just two weeks before they added more charges and another defendant to the case.
William Shipley, former federal prosecutor and defense attorney for many defendants charged for alleged crimes stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach, opined that to avoid scheduling conflicts, Mr. Smith may be left with only two options: try to get to trial in early 2024 or wait for the other two trials to conclude.
“The FL case is already set for May and they don’t want to antagonize Cannon further by trying to jam this case in between. So the option was to try this, or wait until July-Aug in an election year.”
