Trump’s D.C. trial set for March 4, 2024 – one day before Super Tuesday: Judge Chutkan reveals ex-president will stand trial in January 6 case BEFORE the election – as his lawyers slam ‘show trial’

Federal Judge Tanya Chutkan has set a March 4, 2024 trial date for former President Donald Trump, who will face federal criminal charges in Washington DC — triggering a landmark trial ahead of the November election.

She said the Jan. 6 date following a grand jury indictment in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation “will give the defense enough time to prepare for the trial and ensure that public interest in the case is timely.” will be resolved.’

The judge announced her decision after a heated courtroom confrontation, telling lawyers she consulted New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Marchan on Trump’s pending March 25 case in that jurisdiction, where he faces with tax and fraud charges related to silent payments to former porn sites. star Stormy Daniels.

She made no reference to details about the political calendar — although Super Tuesday, when a string of states hold primary elections, is scheduled for March 5, during a presidential primary where Trump’s status as a criminal defendant looms large.

Both sides have predicted that the process itself could take four to six weeks, a period that could come before the end of the primary process, while about a dozen states have yet to hold primaries. That could yield a verdict six months before voters head to the polls in November 2024.

She made the decision when Trump attorney John Lauro cited an “avalanche” of material Trump’s team had to review in preparation for the trial, accusing prosecutors of trying to force a “show trial.”

“You don’t get two more years,” Chutkan told Lauro, firing at his own proposed timetable. “This case will not go to court in 2026,” she said.

Trump faces charges of conspiracy to obstruct official proceedings, defraud the government and defraud voters, in a streamlined charge stemming from his efforts to overturn the election. Unlike the related case in which Trump was arrested last week in Fulton County, Georgia, Trump is not being charged along with other suspects.

While announcing her decision on the calendar, Judge Chutkan referred to the landmark Scottsboro Boys case, in which nine African-American boys accused of raping two white teenagers were tried just six days after being charged. “This trial is not moving the case forward with the haste of the mob,” she said.

She called Trump’s case “very different.”

She said Trump was represented by “a team of diligent and experienced lawyers,” and said they had been given plenty of time to prepare.

She said Trump “has known about the administration’s investigation for almost a year.”

“Let’s not overlook the fact that Mr. Trump has significant resources that any criminal defendant normally does not have,” she said at one point.

Chutkan began a hearing Monday at a Washington DC federal courthouse by noting that Trump’s unique role should not shield him from the need to establish a speedy date.

‘Mr. Trump, like any defendant, will have to pass the trial date regardless of his schedule,” Chutkan said.

She compared the case to a hypothetical trial against a professional athlete.

She said it would be “inappropriate for me to schedule a trial date that fits her schedule.” The same applies here.’

In his opening remarks, Chutkan pointed to the significant gap between the government’s proposed January 2 trial date and Team Trump’s proposal to face trial in 2026 — well after the November 2024 election.

“These proposals are clearly very far apart,” Chutkan said. “Neither is acceptable,” she said.

Lauro made a series of impassioned arguments, with Judge Chutkan occasionally chiding him to ‘turn down the temperature’.

“We have to do our job as lawyers to represent a client,” Lauro said. “This is a solemn obligation of every lawyer.”

“For a federal prosecutor to suggest that we can go to court in four months is not only absurd, but it is also a violation of the oath to do justice,” Lauro said.

“This is a request for a show trial, not a speedy trial,” he said angrily.

“I like to be prepared for a lawsuit. I have an obligation to a client,’ Lauro continued. “This is an overwhelming task. Never in the history of the United States have we seen a case of this magnitude come to trial within four months.”

He also outlined a series of motions he planned to file, including accusing the government of “selective prosecution.” He also plans to raise issues of “executive immunity.”

The government insisted on “the earliest possible date of the trial”, when the defense “could reasonably be ready”.

Prosecutor Molly Gaston noted that Trump was accused of seeking to overturn an election aimed at disenfranchising millions of Americans.

She said it deserved “prompt and full consideration of these claims in a public hearing.”

Almost every day, the defendant posts on social media about this case,” said Gaston. “He has publicly discredited witnesses, he has assaulted the integrity of the court and of the citizens of the District of Columbia who are part of our jury,” she argued.

“And this potentially hurts the juries,” she said — echoing an argument Judge Chutkan herself made during Trump’s arraignment when she warned about harassment.

Her chosen trial date is two months later than prosecutors had requested. After announcing it, Lauro said on Trump’s behalf that “we will certainly abide by the ruling of your honor as we must.”

But he told her, “we won’t be able to provide adequate representation.”

While Chutkan seemed to push the political agenda aside with her comment that Trump should meet the schedule, her decision could have profound consequences.

Trump spent the days after his arrest on Thursday in Georgia marketing his mugshot in that case, where he faces charges of conspiracy related to his attempt to overthrow the case.

He experienced a spike in fundraising following his indictment in the Stormy Daniels case.

Among his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination is former Vice President Mike Pence, who could be a witness in the case, and who has said he did not have the authority to reject state-certified votes, as Trump told him on June 6. January pressured.

Other Republican rivals are quashing prosecutions Trump calls a witch hunt or criticizing his efforts to overturn the case. Trump and his multifaceted legal predicament were a topic of last week’s Republican presidential debate, though he himself did not participate.

Judge Chutkan, who himself previously served as a public defender in Washington, pointed to some other high-profile cases.

She noted that the trial will take place more than three years after a mob stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2020. She noted that the 2015 Boston Marathon bombing trial took place two years after the incident.

She also referred to Zacarias Moussaoui, who was indicted a year after the September 11 attacks (he was arrested in August 2001 and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to participate in the attacks).