Former President Trump faces a jam-packed first few months of 2024, with trials and primaries at times occurring on back-to-back days.
The judge overseeing the federal case into efforts to overturn the 2020 election has set the trial to begin on March 4 — one day before Super Tuesday, when at least 14 states hold presidential nominating contests.
The Hill’s Brett Samuels noted that “Trump is facing multiple court dates already next year, and the timing of the cases could mean Trump could be kept off the campaign trail for long stretches of time.”
Those other court dates include a March 25 scheduled start for the New York trial over an alleged hush money scheme and a May 20 start for the trial over Trump’s handling of classified documents after he left office. A trial date for the Georgia case into efforts to overturn the state’s 2020 election results hasn’t been set yet.
Prosecutors in the federal 2020 election case said Monday they’d turned over 12.8 million documents of discovery to Trump’s legal team. His team, which pushed for a 2026 start date, says the March 4, 2024, date doesn’t give them enough time to prepare.
Judge Tanya Chutkan disagreed, while saying the Justice Department‘s proposed Jan. 2 date was too soon. The prosecution argued Trump’s team already had access to around two-thirds of the documents.
Trump responded to Chutkan’s date on Truth Social: “Today a biased, Trump Hating Judge gave me only a two month extension, just what our corrupt government wanted, SUPER TUESDAY. I will APPEAL!”
In all cases where Trump has entered a plea, including the D.C. case, he has pleaded not guilty.