A judge has set a March 4, 2024, trial date for Donald Trump in the federal case in Washington charging the former United States president with trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Monday’s decision from US District Judge Tanya Chutkan denied a defence request to push the trial back until April 2026, about a year and a half after the 2024 election, but also sets it later than the January date proposed by special counsel Jack Smith’s team.
“The public has a right to prompt and efficient resolution of this matter,” she said.
If the date holds, it would come right in the middle of the Republican presidential nominating calendar and the day before Super Tuesday, a crucial voting day when the largest number of delegates are up for grabs.
Trump, a Republican, was charged earlier this month in a four-count indictment with scheming to undo his loss to Joe Biden, a Democrat, in the 2020 election.
The federal election subversion prosecution is one of four criminal cases against Trump.
Smith’s team has brought a separate federal case accusing him of illegally retaining classified documents at his Palm Beach, Florida, property, Mar-a-Lago, and refusing to give them back. That case is currently set for trial next May 20.
Trump also faces state cases in New York and Georgia. Manhattan prosecutors have charged him with falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment to a porn actor who has said she had an extramarital affair with Trump.
(9 News)
