Historic DC trial for Trump set for March 4

The federal judge overseeing former president Donald Trump's prosecution on charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election set a trial date on Monday for March 4, 2024, rejecting Trump's lawyers' proposal to commence it in April 2026.

Judge Tanya Chutkan said at a hearing in Washington that defense attorneys didn't need two years to examine the extensive evidence in the case. She also said prosecutors' request for a Jan 2, 2024, start date — two weeks before the first Republican primary votes will be cast in Iowa's Jan 15 caucuses — didn't give defense attorneys enough time to prepare.

Trump is a front-runner in the Republican 2024 presidential contest, and the Washington trial's start date is the day before the Super Tuesday presidential primaries and caucuses in 15 states.

The date also coincides with a proposal from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in Atlanta, who is prosecuting Trump and 18 co-defendants on racketeering and other charges related to the 2020 election.

Trump's lawyers sought an April 2026 date due in part to the extended period of time they said they would need to review the large amount of discovery evidence the government has provided in the case.

12 million pages

Trump attorney John Lauro argued that much time was needed to deal with a mountain of evidence — more than 12 million pages of documents, the separate defense investigation and potentially 250 government witnesses, though prosecutors suggested the number of key witnesses is much smaller.

Chutkan said she believed she was giving Trump's legal team "adequate time" to prepare, while ensuring "the public's interest in seeing this case resolved in a timely manner".

She said she had spoken briefly to the judge overseeing Trump's hush money case in Manhattan, to advise him of the likely overlap. That case is scheduled to go to trial in late March, after Trump pleaded not guilty this spring to a 34-count indictment charging him with falsifying business records in connection with a payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels days before the 2016 presidential election.

Trump earlier pleaded not guilty to charges of undertaking a "criminal scheme" to overturn the results of the 2020 election by enlisting a slate of so-called fake electors, using the Justice Department to conduct "sham election crime investigations", trying to enlist the vice-president to "alter the election results" and promoting false claims of a stolen election that sparked riots at the Capitol on Jan 6.

Trump has denied all wrongdoing and denounced the charges as "a persecution of a political opponent".