Trump Proposes April 2026 Trial Date for 2020 Election Case

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Lawyers for former President Donald Trump have proposed April 2026 as the date to start the trial in the case involving his efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 election.

According to a 16-page court filing (pdf) on Aug. 17, President Trumpโ€™s lawyers rejected special counsel Jack Smithโ€™s proposed date of Jan. 2, 2024, arguing that he โ€œseeks a trial calendar more rapid than most no-document misdemeanors, requesting just four months from the beginning of discovery to jury selection.โ€

โ€œThe governmentโ€™s objective is clear: to deny President Trump and his counsel a fair ability to prepare for trial. The Court should deny the governmentโ€™s request,โ€ the lawyers wrote. โ€œThe public interest lies in justice and fair trial, not a rush to judgment.โ€

Mr. Smithโ€™s proposed date is about two weeks before the first-in-the-nation Republican presidential nomination caucus in Iowa. President Trump teamโ€™s suggested date would come long after next yearโ€™s presidential election.

The decision is up to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is expected to set a trial date during a hearing on Aug. 28.

To support their arguments for a 2026 trial date, President Trumpโ€™s lawyers pointed to the โ€œenormous and growingโ€ volume of materials that need to be reviewed, the unusual and complex nature of the case, and the former presidentโ€™s busy legal calendar for 2024.

โ€œThis case is not just complex or unusual. It is terra incognita,โ€ the lawyers wrote. โ€œNo president has ever been charged with a crime for conduct committed while in office. No major party presidential candidate has ever been charged while in the middle of a campaignโ€”and certainly not by a Justice Department serving his opponent.

โ€œThese and numerous other issues will be questions of first impression, requiring significant time for the parties to consider and brief, and for the Court to resolve.โ€

‘11.5 Million Pages’

There are over 11.5 million pages of discovery from Mr. Smithโ€™s office, according to the lawyers.

โ€œTo put 11.5 million pages in some perspective, we began downloading the governmentโ€™s initial production on August 13, 2023. Two days later, it was still downloading,โ€ they wrote.

Byย Frank Fang

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