U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan announced Monday that the federal trial accusing former President Donald Trump of working to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election will begin on March 4, 2024.
The trial is two months after the Jan. 2, 2024, date initially proposed by special counsel Jack Smith’s team, but two years before the April 2026 date that Trump’s lawyers were seeking. Chutkan noted Monday that “neither” of those proposals was “acceptable,” but said that the former president would need to make the trial date work.
“Setting a trial date should not depend on a president’s personal obligations,” Chutkan said. “Mr. Trump, like any defendant, will have to make the trial date work regardless of his schedule.”
The trial date is one day before the March 5 “Super Tuesday” primary contests, where voters in more than a dozen states will head to the polls to pick the Republican nominee for president. Trump is the undisputed frontrunner in the race, leading his closest opponent by nearly 35 points, according to a polling average from FiveThirtyEight.
Trump faces four charges in the federal indictment: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights. He pleaded not guilty to all charges earlier this month, railing against the case as “persecution of a political opponent.”
If convicted, Trump could face up to 55 years in prison.
The federal election interference case is just one of four that the former president is facing. Special counsel Jack Smith’s team brought a separate federal case against Trump accusing him of allegedly mishandling classified documents at his Florida estate, which is set to begin in May 2024.
Trump also faces a case in New York related to alleged hush money payments made to an adult film star ahead of the 2016 presidential election, which is scheduled for later in March 2024, and a separate election interference case in Georgia.
Trump has denied wrongdoing in all four cases against him, calling them politically motivated. Trump has pleaded not guilty in the federal and New York cases; his arraignment in the Georgia case is set for next week.
Monday’s hearing, which lasted roughly 90 minutes, featured many impassioned pleas by the defense for more time to review the troves of evidence compiled by the prosecution and prepare an adequate defense of the former president.
“Mr. Trump is not above the law, but he is not below the law,” said defense attorney John Lauro.
The prosecution argued that there is a public interest in a speedy and fair trial, and that a majority of the documents in discovery were publicly available to the defense, including social media posts made by Trump, press releases from his campaign, and other information from Trump-aligned political action funds.
After a brief recess, Chutkan returned to the bench, issuing her decision to begin trial on March 4, 2024. She said she had spoken to Judge Juan Merchan in New York — who is presiding over the hush money payment case involving the former president — to alert him that she was considering a court date that may overlap with his, which is scheduled to begin March 25, 2024. It’s unclear when that conversation occurred.
Sitting front row at Monday’s hearing was Special Counsel Jack Smith. Smith took notes throughout the hearing, mostly keeping to himself. During the brief recess he turned around and surveyed the press and members of the public sitting behind him. Smith spoke briefly to prosecutor Molly Gaston before he exited the courtroom, getting a smile from Gaston, but the pair were too far away to hear what was said.
