Trump lawyers seek 2026 start for federal trial over 2020 election

Aug 18, 2023

Karah Rucker Anchor/Reporter

By Karah Rucker (Anchor/Reporter), Ian Kennedy (Editor), Ben Burke (Digital Producer)

In a Thursday, Aug. 17 court filing, lawyers for former President Donald Trump requested that his federal trial over alleged illegal efforts to overturn the 2020 election not start until April of 2026. That is more than two years after the Justice Department’s recommended start date of Jan. 2, 2024.

Lawyers for former President Trump argued the delay was warranted due to the “massive” number of documents involved in the case. Prosecutors have already produced more than 11.5 million pages of documents. If the trial were to start in early 2024, Trump’s lawyers would have to review about 100,000 pages per day.

“If we were to print and stack 11.5 million pages of documents, with no gap between pages, at 200 pages per inch, the result would be a tower of paper stretching nearly 5,000 feet into the sky,” Trump lawyers said. “That is taller than the Washington Monument, stacked on top of itself eight times, with nearly a million pages to spare.”

Trump lawyers also cited scheduling conflicts with the other criminal cases Trump is facing. Proposed start dates for those trials include:

Trump’s Georgia state trial over the 2020 election: March 4, 2024
Trump’s New York state trial over hush money payments: March 25, 2024
Trump’s federal trial over classified documents: May 20, 2024

“President Trump must prepare for each of these trials in the coming months,” Trump’s lawyers wrote. “All are independently complex and will require substantial work to defend. Several will likely require President Trump’s presence at some or all trial proceedings.”

The lawyers also argued that the 2026 start was necessary for Trump’s federal trial over the 2020 election because the case concerns unprecedented questions that will take time to sort out.

“No president has ever been charged with a crime for conduct committed while in office. No major party presidential candidate has ever been charged while in the middle of a campaign — and certainly not by a Justice Department serving his opponent,” the lawyers wrote. “These and numerous other issues will be questions of first impression, requiring significant time for the parties to consider and brief, and for the Court to resolve.”

The question of when to start the trial is up to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan. She is expected to set a tentative date at an Aug. 28 court hearing.

Tags: 2020 elections, Classified documents, Donald Trump, Georgia, New York, U.S. Department of Justice

A TOP OFFICIAL RESPONSIBLE FOR EMERGENCY RESPONSE IN MAUI HAS RESIGNED —

AS THE CITY’S ACTIONS — OR LACK OF — LEADING UP TO LAST WEEK’S DEADLY WILDFIRES ARE IN QUESTION.

MORE THAN ONE THOUSAND PEOPLE ARE STILL CONSIDERED MISSING — MANY FEARED TO BE YOUNG CHILDREN —

AS THE DEATH TOLL IS NOW AT 111.

MAUI’S EMERGENCY SERVICES **CHIEF “HERMAN ANDAYA (ANNE-DIE-UH)” HAS RESIGNED CITING HEALTH REASONS A DAY AFTER **REJECTING CRITICISM FOR NOT ACTIVATING **SIRENS IN THE COMMUNITY OF LAHAINA AS THE WILDFIRE RUSHED THROUGH.

HIS RESIGNATION ALSO COMES AS HAWAII’S ATTORNEY GENERAL ANNOUNCES AN INDEPENDENT REVIEW TO ASSESS HOW STATE AND COUNTY AGENCIES PREPARED FOR AND RESPONDED TO THE EMERGENCY SITUATION.

THE RELENTLESS SEARCH EFFORTS THIS WEEK HAVE BEEN PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY TAXING ON CREWS ON THE GROUND —

WHO SAY MANY OF THE REMAINS BEING FOUND ARE UNRECOGNIZABLE.

RESCUE TEAMS WITH CADAVER DOGS WILL CONTINUE TO SEARCH FOR HUNDREDS OF MISSING PEOPLE THROUGH THE WEEKEND.