Trump races against the clock as criminal trials, 2024 election near

by Zach Schonfeld and Ella Lee - 12/07/23 6:00 AM ET

The clock is ticking for Donald Trump.

As 2024 rapidly nears, the former president faces parallel races to win the upcoming election and slow-walk four criminal cases from going to trial until then, triggering clashes with prosecutors and judges across the country.

Although Trump has consistently leveraged delays as a tactic in his legal battles over the years, his attempts to stall his criminal prosecutions have higher stakes, including the possibility Trump will ultimately try to quash federal probes against him or pardon himself if elected president.

Trump’s attorneys have regularly emphasized their client’s campaign obligations in court filings and hearings, contending the cases — which they claim are tantamount to “election interference” — are getting in the way of his ability to seek a second term in the White House.

It’s a tactic Trump and his team see as only doing them favors — especially if he can punt his legal issues until after the election.

“The best way to stay out of prison is to go into the Oval Office,” said Jessica Levinson, a law professor at Loyola Marymount University.

The race against time was on full display last week in Georgia, where Trump is indicted on accusations of entering a criminal racketeering conspiracy with more than a dozen of his allies and lawyers in an attempt to remain in power after losing the 2020 election. Prosecutors there are seeking to start Trump’s trial in August.

“While the state doesn’t give it any consideration whatsoever, it’s very possible at that time that my client will be running for election for president of the United States for the Republican Party,” Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead attorney in the case, said at a Friday hearing.

“I know the preference would be that he would not be on trial during the time he was campaigning,” Sadow said.

Catherine Christian, a former Manhattan special assistant district attorney, said such a demand would amount to special treatment for Trump.

“Let’s just adjourn this until after the election? No,” she said. “Now, the reality is we’ve never had a former president of the United States who’s had four criminal indictments, who was leading in the polls for president, running.”

“But it’s just never — in the real world for regular defendants — you would never be given a year off to do your personal things,” Christian continued.

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Georgia is the only one of Trump’s four criminal cases where a trial date has not yet been set. Trump’s federal 2020 election subversion trial in Washington, D.C., is scheduled to begin March 4. In New York, his trial on charges related to hush money payments is slated to start on March 25. And beginning May 20, Trump faces a criminal trial in Florida over his handling of classified documents.

As a result, a multi-jurisdictional game of chicken is underway, with each judge appearing to look to the others to set the tone and timeline of the former president’s upcoming year of legal woes amid what’s set to be a fierce reelection campaign.

Arguably none of Trump’s criminal judges have been as insistent on maintaining their current schedule as U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who oversees the case in Washington. The trial there is scheduled to begin a day before Super Tuesday.

Trump’s attorneys had unsuccessfully proposed an April 2026 trial date. Ever since, Trump’s team has repeatedly re-upped their timing concerns. The grievances became so frequent that Chutkan at one point even mocked one of Trump’s attorneys.

As prosecutors pushed for a gag order, Trump attorney John Lauro noted during an October hearing that “the easiest solution to all of this is an obvious one.”

“The courts have identified the easiest solution, and that is to adjourn the case after the presidential election. That’s the solution,” Lauro said.

Chutkan quickly shut down the suggestion and any notion that the 2024 presidential race should play a role in her considerations.

“This trial will not yield to the election cycle, and we’re not revisiting the trial date,” responded Chutkan.

Lauro has countered Chutkan’s insistence to keep politics out of the criminal proceeding by arguing that the former president’s defense against the four felony counts he faces in Washington — and 87 charges across his other three criminal cases — is inextricable from his 2024 campaign and the rhetoric he’s employing there. But Chutkan has remained firm that “politics stop at this courthouse door.”

Some 90 days out from the expected start of the trial, a “pre-screening” form for the jury selection process has already been issued to some prospective jurors, NBC News reported, indicating that the trial judge intends to stick to her established timeline as closely as possible.

It remains a possibility that any of Trump’s criminal trials will be delayed.

In Washington, despite Chutkan’s desire to stay on schedule, prosecutors in that case conceded that Trump can tie up the case by appealing his immunity and double jeopardy defenses before trial.

“Judge Chutkan has done everything she could,” said Christian. “I mean, she comes up with her decisions very quickly to make sure to stay in the timeline. Now it’s out of her hands what the Court of Appeals does and ultimately whether or not the Supreme Court takes it.”

“It’s not her fault. She can’t be accused of slow-walking the case.”

In his classified documents case, many observers believe the trial is likely headed for a delay because of complicated disputes over how the classified materials at the center of the case can be presented at trial.

“In many of [Judge Aileen Cannon’s] pretrial rulings, we see a predisposition to allow a delay, and we all know what the delay means,” Levinson said. “In this case, it means that you’re not seeing a trial before the election.”

A delay until after the election in either case poses high stakes.

If Trump returns to the White House, legal experts note that he could direct his Justice Department to shut down the two federal prosecutions.

“If he wins, one of the very first things he is going to do is pick an attorney general who will go into court and say, ‘Your Honor, we need to dismiss these cases,’” Levinson said.

If Trump is convicted prior to being elected, he could also attempt to pardon himself. However, the Supreme Court has never ruled on whether presidential self-pardons are constitutional, Levinson added.

For the state indictments, Trump’s attorneys have begun arguing that the cases would need to halt until he is out of office again in 2029. Sadow told the judge in Georgia last week that under the Supremacy Clause and Trump’s would-be duties as president, his trial could not take place there until after leaving his term of office.

“His overarching legal strategy will be to try and make these cases wait until he’s either elected, and/or in office,” Levinson said.

Tags Donald Trump Tanya Chutkan