Trump 2020 Election Trial Proposed For Jan. 2, 2024 – Rolling Stone

The Department of Justice is looking to kick off Donald Trump’s 2020 election meddling trial on Jan. 2, 2024, just days shy of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot’s three-year anniversary. 

“The Government proposes that trial begin on January 2, 2024, and estimates that its case in chief will take no longer than four to six weeks,” prosecutors wrote in a filing submitted to D.C.’s District Court on Thursday. 

Prosecutors proposed beginning jury selection on December 11, 2023, with a break between selection and the official start of the trial for the December holidays.

The government also wrote that they expect the discovery phase of the trial will be “substantially

complete in advance of the Court’s hearing on August 28, 2023.” The August hearing will serve to finalize the dates and logistical proceedings of the case. 

Should the government’s proposed timeline be accepted, Trump’s trial would overlap with both the 2024 Iowa caucuses and a second civil defamation lawsuit brought against the former president by author E. Jean Carroll. They are both set to begin Jan 15, 2024. 

But a trial date won’t be the first major ruling handed down by Judge Tanya S. Chutkan. On Friday, representatives for Trump and the Justice Department will appear in court to discuss a protective order requested by the DOJ against the former president. The order would limit Trump’s ability to publicly discuss evidence made available to him through the discovery phase of the trial.

The department moved to rein in the former president after he launched a barrage of attacks against prosecutors and Judge Chutkan following his arrest and arraignment last week. Despite attempts from his attorneys to soften the scope of the order and delay a decision from the judge, Trump promised supporters at a campaign rally on Tuesday that he would keep discussing the case in public — consequences be damned.