Trump’s Prosecutors Propose Jan. 2, 2024 Start Date for Trial Over Attempt to Overturn 2020 Election

Special Counsel Jack Smith asked a federal judge on Thursday to set a Jan. 2, 2024, trial date for Donald Trump to face a jury in Washington, D.C., over his attempts to stay in power after losing the 2020 presidential election.

Prosecutors estimate that it will take four to six weeks to present their case.

“This trial date, and the proposed schedule outlined below, would give the defendant time to review the discovery in this case and prepare a defense, and would allow the Court and parties to fully litigate any pre-trial legal issues,” Smith’s team said in its eight-page motion filed with U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan.

“Most importantly, a January 2 trial date would vindicate the public’s strong interest in a speedy trial—an interest guaranteed by the Constitution and federal law in all cases, but of particular significance here, where the defendant, a former president, is charged with conspiring to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election, obstruct the certification of the election results, and discount citizens’ legitimate votes," the special counsel's team added.

If granted, the trial would begin just days before the third anniversary of the U.S. Capitol insurrection, in a courtroom in the proverbial shadow of that building. Court would not be in session for the actual date, which falls this year on a Saturday.

Such a schedule would make for a busy autumn and winter for Trump's prosecutors and defense attorneys. Prosecutors want Trump’s attorneys to start filing pre-trial motions in late September. In November, the parties would start debating so-called limine motions, which establish the boundaries of the permissible topics and witnesses at trial.

Under this schedule, a final pre-trial conference would be slated on Dec. 8, followed by the start of jury selection three days later.

Trump's attorneys John Lauro and Todd Blanche are likely to ask for any trial to fall after the 2024 presidential election, when their client hopes to get back into the White House, where he can try to shut down his federal criminal cases or issue himself a controversial self-pardon despite its legal uncertainty. 

The former president’s lawyers have an Aug. 17 deadline to submit their official trial schedule proposal, and Chutkan has set an Aug. 28 hearing where she may issue a ruling on the timing for the case.   

Trump had sought a post-election trial in Florida, where he faces dozens of charges accusing him of mishandling more than 100 classified documents and obstructing an investigation into his alleged violations of the Espionage Act.

But in a setback for his legal team, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, rejected that request. She set a trial in that case for May 2020. 

Trump’s calendar for 2024 is already shaping up to be jam packed as he runs for the Republican presidential nomination. Key caucus and primary dates next year will clash against Trump’s three different criminal cases in three different jurisdictions, plus a widely expected fourth set of charges due to come as soon as next week in Fulton County, Georgia, tied to his efforts to overturn the results of the state results that had him losing to Joe Biden.

For now, Trump’s first criminal trial is scheduled to begin March 25 in New York Supreme Court over hush money payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 White House campaign. 

The Manhattan prosecutor, Alvin Bragg, offered before Smith even brought the latest indictment on the 2020 election to request that the judge agree to give up their trial time slot to the special counsel. Legal experts had predicted Smith would take Bragg up on the offer.