Trump’s disaster diary for 2024: The former president will have to fit in his many criminal trials amid a busy campaign schedule

Election years are busy enough, but now former President Donald Trump has to appear in court again and again as he campaigns for the presidency.

Monday’s indictment from Fulton County, Georgia — in connection with Trump’s attempts to overturn that state’s 2020 election — fills the ex-president’s 2024 calendar.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said she would like to see Trump’s trial begin in the next six months, meaning it could take place in the middle of the presidential primary season.

In addition, one of Trump’s trial dates – for the original E. Jean Carroll defamation lawsuit – will take place on January 15, 2024, the exact same day as the Iowa caucuses.

Here are key dates to look forward to as Trump runs for president and tries to stay out of prison:

August 23, 2023: First Republican primary

For weeks, Trump has been teasing that he will be allowed to skip the first debate, which will be held next Wednesday in Milwaukee and hosted by the Fox News Channel.

That said, he also believes that he might start doing some counter-programming instead.

Trump has said he has made his decision but won’t announce it until next week.

August 25, 2023: Georgia deadline for Trump to turn himself in

Willis gave Trump and the other 18 indicted people in Fulton County, Georgia, 10 days to turn themselves in or be arrested.

August 28, 2023: Hearing for 2020 federal election and January 6 case

Trump’s lawyers will return to federal court in Washington, D.C. to appear before U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is expected to use the hearing to set a trial date.

Trump’s legal team has insisted that the trial be held after the 2024 election, while prosecutors want a “speedy trial.”

September 27, 2023: Second Republican primary debate

The 2024 Republican candidates are expected to meet on stage for the second debate of the primary cycle. It is scheduled to take place at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.

October 2, 2023: Date of trial for Trump Organization civil fraud case

The $250 million civil lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James is going to trial. In September, James sued Trump, his company and his oldest three children for fraud.

She said the ex-president “wildly exaggerated his net worth by billions of dollars” while manipulating real estate valuations to get tax breaks and better terms on loans and insurance policies.

January 2, 2024: Proposed start of the 2020 federal election and January 6 trial

Special counsel Jack Smith has proposed this as the January 6 start date for the federal trial on the allegations related to Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his role.

January 15, 2024: The Iowa caucuses

The official start date of the 2024 election. The Iowa primary is the official start of the Republican primary season. Voters in the state of Hawkeye gather at caucus locations and hear a pitch from each candidate or a surrogate for each candidate before casting their ballots.

Iowa has either propelled candidates to eventually win the party’s nomination — as it did for Barack Obama in 2008 — or crushed candidates’ presidential dreams.

Trump lost the 2016 Iowa caucus to Senator Ted Cruz.

January 15, 2024: Libel trial against E. Jean Carroll begins

E. Jean Carroll’s original defamation case against Trump goes to trial – but fortunately for the ex-president, with the Iowa caucuses on the same day, the 2024 Republican hopeful need not attend in person.

Carroll sued Trump for defamation in November 2019 after he publicly denied that she had been raped by him in New York City’s Bergdorf Goodman department store in 1996. Trump said Carroll was “totally lying” and “not my type.”

In a separate lawsuit that went to trial earlier this year, jurors found that Trump did not rape Carroll but sexually assaulted her and awarded her $5 million in the lawsuit, something Trump defies.

January 23, 2024: The tentative date for the New Hampshire primary

Granite State will hold its first primary in the country a week after the Iowa caucuses. In 2016, New Hampire gave Trump his first election night victory. In current polls, he is 40 points ahead of the second-place candidate, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie.

January 29, 2024: Trial in class action lawsuit over pyramid scheme

A new lawsuit will start in January. This federal class action lawsuit was filed just before the 2018 midterm elections alleging that Trump and his three oldest children convinced consumers to invest in a get-rich-quick plan. “The Investments offered – and could not – have a reasonable chance of success,” the lawsuit said.

February 8, 2024: Nevada primary

The third primary of the year takes place in Nevada. Trump won the 2016 Nevada primary.

February 24, 2024: South Carolina primary

The fourth primary will be held in South Carolina, home of two of Trump’s Republican rivals.

February 27, 2024: Michigan primary

The fifth primary will be held next year in Michigan, a state that Trump won in the 2016 general election, winning the White House from Hillary Clinton.

Since then, the state has been trending blue, with a Democratic governor, Democrats controlling the state government, and President Joe Biden winning the state from Trump in the 2020 race.”

March 5, 2024: Super Tuesday

Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont and Virginia will hold their Super Tuesday primaries next year.

March 25, 2024: Hush money case goes to trial

About a year after Trump’s first indictment, alleging New York State charges related to hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election, the case will come to trial.

If GOP voters unite around one Trump rival, the Republican primary could still go ahead.

During his last competitive cycle, Trump did not become the presumptive GOP nominee until May 3, 2016.

May 20, 2024: The trial of classified documents begins

Trump-appointed federal judge Aileen M. Cannon opted for classified documents to begin the trial in mid-May.

Special counsel Jack Smith’s team had originally wanted the Florida case to go to trial in December, while Trump’s lawyers asked for an extension beyond the 2024 presidential election.

July 15 to 18, 2024: Republican National Convention

Republicans will officially make their first pick at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Democrats were scheduled to hold their 2020 convention in the Midwestern city, but instead held a scaled-down version in Wilmington, Delaware due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

November 4, 2024: Election Day

Americans will vote for president on the first Tuesday in November next year.