Trump trial date in federal Jan. 6 case set for March 4

WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump’s federal trial on charges that he unlawfully tried to remain in power following his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden will begin March 4, a judge here ruled Monday.

US District Judge Tanya Chutkan set the trial to begin one day before Super Tuesday, when Republican voters in 15 states and territories go to the polls to select their choice to be the party’s 2024 presidential candidate.

The trial in the nation’s capital is set to start three weeks before Trump is due to stand trial in Manhattan on charges related to payouts to porn star Stormy Daniels – despite both sides in the federal trial estimating they would each need up to six weeks to present their cases.

It was immediately unclear Monday whether the Manhattan case would be rescheduled.

Prosecutors from the office of special counsel Jack Smith had asked Chutkan to set the trial to begin Jan. 2, while the former president’s defense team had pushed for a start date in April 2026.

“This is a request for a show trial, not a fair trial,” defense attorney John Lauro said of the prosecution’s proposed court date.

Prosecutor Molly Gaston argued in response that more than 60% of 12.8 million pages of discovery came from sources to which the Trump team already had access – including tweets, videos and statements by the former president himself. 

At one point in the hearing, Lauro spent 15 minutes haranguing Chutkan to grant the later date, punctuating his words by slamming his finger on his lectern.

“Let’s take the temperature down a moment here,” Chutkan told Lauro. “I want to know, despite the rhetoric in your response, realistically why you need this time.”

Keeping track of all of Trump’s indictments

Former President Donald Trump is facing 91 charges in four different criminal cases following his time in office.

Here are all of the legal troubles Trump will face as he heads toward the 2024 election.

Mar-a-Lago classified docs

• Trump is the first former president to receive a federal indictment.

• Trump is accused of taking around 11,000 documents, some containing sensitive national security secrets, and hoarding them in a haphazard manner at his Palm Beach, Florida, estate.
• The most serious charge, in this case, carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.

Stormy Daniels ‘hush money’

• Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 in exchange for her silence about a sexual encounter she claimed the two had.
• Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges and is trying to have the case moved to federal court. He is set to appear in court on Jan. 4, 2024.

2020 election overturn bid

• Special counsel Jack Smith charged the ex-president with four counts in connection with his attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
• Prosecutors charged that the 45th president’s incessant claims of election fraud costing him re-election “were false and [Trump] knew they were false.”

• The indictment is the second brought by Smith against the 77-year-old Trump.
• A mob of Trump supporters breached the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, following his speech on the Ellipse.
• The charges against the former president include violation of the Georgia’s anti-racketeering law, conspiracy, false statements, and asking a public official to violate their oath of office.

Georgia 2020 election probe

• Trump and 18 of his allies and supporters were indicted by a Georgia grand jury in connection with his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in the Peach State.
• The former president faces 13 counts in the case, matching a docket prematurely posted to the Fulton County Superior Court’s website around noon.

New York civil cases

• The former president was sued by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
• James is alleging that Trump and three of his children lied to banks about his assets and net worth by billions.
• She is seeking a $250 million fine and a ban on Trump doing business in New York state.

• In another civil case, Trump was found liable for sexually abusing and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll in the 1990s.
• Carroll was awarded $5 million in damages from Trump.
• Trump was not found guilty of rape after the jury rejected Carroll’s claim that Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman fitting room.

Prosecutor Gaston argued that there was an “unprecedentedly high need for a speedy trial for the public” and that the defense was already well aware of the facts of the case, referencing Lauro’s own previous comments that the DC indictment was a “regurgitation” of a House Select Committee’s investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

“He doesn’t want to admit that through electronic document searches and other technological tools, it is possible to be ready much sooner than April of 2026,” she said. “We are not starting fresh at indictment in this case.”

Chutkan agreed with Gaston that “most defendants do not receive this level of organization [in discovery],” but “nonetheless, the [Jan. 2] date does not give defendant Trump adequate time … [He] needs more than five months to prepare.”

The judge gave the defense team two additional months to get their evidence in order, telling Laura that Trump would have to “make the date work regardless of his schedule.”