WASHINGTON - Former US President Donald Trump wants his federal trial for allegedly trying to subvert the 2020 presidential to be postponed until April 2026, according to a court filing.
Lawyers for the former president asked Judge Tanya Chutkan to push the trial back more than two years later than special counsel Jack Smith's proposed date of January 2024.
Mr Trump is now facing four different trials, two at the federal level, one in Georgia and one in Manhattan, with prosecutors jostling for windows to prosecute the Republican frontrunner.
Earlier this month, Mr Trump pleaded not guilty to four charges in the case: conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction; and conspiracy against the right to vote and to have one’s vote counted.
Last week, the special counsel’s office asked that jury selection in the case start in December and that the trial gets underway on 2 January.
Senior Assistant Special Counsel Molly Gaston wrote that it, “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.”
Judge Chutkan is expected to set a date for the trial at a hearing on 28 August, which Mr Trump is not expected or required to attend.
