Lawyers for former US President Donald Trump have requested an April 2026 trial date for the federal election interference, new documents show.
Prosecutors, led by special counsel Jack Smith, have previously called for a much earlier date of January 2024, ahead of presidential elections later that year.
Judge Chutkan will rule on the request on August 28.
The 77-year-old Republican faces ninety-one charges in four criminal cases, including his alleged attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election and mishandling classified documents.
On Monday, Trump was indicted in Georgia, with prosecutors using statutes normally seen in mafia trials and accusing the former president of being the head of “a criminal organization.”
Donald Trump was indicted Monday on state charges filed by a Georgia prosecutor alleging interference in the 2020 election
Fani Willis can be seen Monday night announcing charges against the 19 accused of overturning Georgia’s election results
Fani Willis, the district attorney for Fulton County, Georgia, secured a 41-count grand jury indictment on Monday, telling a press conference that the indictment alleged “violations of Georgia law arising from a criminal conspiracy to conceal the results of the canceling elections’. in this state.’
Trump called her “an out-of-control and highly corrupt prosecutor” and said the allegations were part of a “witch hunt.”
The case could lead to a turning point, the first televised trial of a former president in US history.
Trump has been charged in Georgia along with 18 others, including his former attorney Rudy Giuliani.
Trump was charged with RICO – Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations – a count often used to try mafia figures, cartel leaders and gangland bosses.
He is also charged with provoking breach of oath by a public official; conspiracy to forgery in the first degree; perjury; and numerous other censuses.
If convicted on all charges, he risks 71 years in prison — and state charges, unlike federal ones, cannot be pardoned by a president.
Trump’s lawyers – Drew Findling, Jennifer Little and Marissa Goldberg – described the charges as “shocking and absurd.”
Special Counsel Jack Smith speaks at a press conference after Trump was indicted in federal court for election interference
John Eastman (left) and Rudy Giuliani (right) were among the co-defendants charged with Trump
Former President Donald Trump enters the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse in New York on April 4, 2023
They pointed out that the indictment was posted online for a short time, hours before it was officially filed, and said it forced Willis to quickly go through the indictment.
“In light of this major fumble, the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office has clearly decided to push through and rush this 98-page indictment,” they said.
“This one-sided grand jury presentation was based on witnesses who had their own personal and political interests — some of whom campaigned to promote their efforts against the accused and/or benefited from book deals and employment as a result.
“We look forward to a detailed review of this charge, which is undoubtedly as flawed and unconstitutional as this entire trial.”
Trump also referenced the leaked indictment, saying it suggested the case had been “rigged.”
“So the witch hunt continues!” he wrote on Truth Social.
19 people turned in tonight (sic), including the former president of the United States, me, by an out-of-control and highly corrupt prosecutor campaigning and raising money for, “I’ll get Trump.”
“And what about those indictment documents that were released today, long before the Grand Jury had even voted, and then quickly retracted? Sounds Rigged to me!
“Why didn’t they press charges 2.5 years ago? Because they wanted to do it in the middle of my political campaign. Witch hunt!’
Special Counsel Jack Smith has led two federal investigations into Trump, both of which resulted in charges against the former president.
The first indictments to emerge from those investigations came in June, when Trump was indicted on charges of mishandling top secret documents at his Florida estate.
The indictment alleged that Trump repeatedly hired aides and lawyers to help him conceal documents demanded by investigators and arrogantly showed a Pentagon “plan of attack” and a secret map.
A replacement indictment issued in July added charges accusing Trump of asking for surveillance footage at his Mar-a-Lago estate to be removed after investigators from the FBI and Justice Department visited in June 2022 to collect secret documents he took with him after he left the White House.
The new indictment also charged him with illegally holding a document he allegedly showed visitors in New Jersey.
In total, Trump faces 40 felonies in the classified documents case. The most serious charges carry a prison sentence of up to 20 years.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon of May 20, 2024. If that date holds, it means a potential trial won’t begin until well into the presidential nomination calendar.
Smith’s second case against Trump was revealed in August when the former president was charged with felony charges for working to reverse the results of the 2020 election leading up to the violent riot by his supporters at the U.S. Capitol.
The quadruple charge includes charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States government and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding: the congressional certification of Biden’s victory.
It details how Trump repeatedly told supporters and others that he had won the election despite knowing it was false, and how he tried to convince state officials, Vice President Mike Pence, and finally Congress to reverse the legitimate results.
Trump also faced state charges in New York in March over hush money payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign to bury allegations of extramarital sexual encounters.
He pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records. Each count is punishable by up to four years in prison, though it’s not clear if a judge would impose jail time if Trump were convicted.
The counts are tied to a series of checks written to his attorney Michael Cohen to reimburse him for his role in paying porn actor Stormy Daniels, who allegedly had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, not long after Melania Trump gave birth to their son, Baron. Those payments were recorded in several internal company documents as being for a legal advance that prosecutors said did not exist.