United States: Lawyers for former US President Mr. Donald Trump have asked a judge to decline the government’s suggestion to hold his trial in early January of 2024, on the federal charges that he conspired to overturn the 2020 election. Instead, they proposed postponing the trial date until April 2026.
Lead prosecutor Mr. Jack Smith is advocating for a January 2 start date for the trial, which is one of four criminal cases that Mr. Trump is currently confronting during his White House reelection campaign.
“The public interest lies in justice and fair trial, not a rush to judgment,” the former President’s lawyers stated.
They claimed that the volume of documents involved in the case would necessitate several months of processing.
“Assuming we could begin reviewing the documents today, we would need to proceed at a pace of 99,762 pages per day to finish the government’s initial production by its proposed date for jury selection, that is the entirety of Tolstoy’s War and Peace, cover to cover, 78 times a day, every day, from now until jury selection,” the lawyers remarked.
Among four criminal investigations resulting in numerous felony charges against Mr. Trump, this case is the most severe. It involves accusations that he concealed payments to a porn star as part of an effort to violate campaign finance regulations before the 2016 election.
The trial dates for two of Mr. Trump’s additional cases, one in New York at the state level and another in Florida at the federal level, have already been scheduled to commence before the November 2024 election. These trials are set for March and May 2023, respectively.
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