Get ready to hear that question a lot. “Will Trump be there?” will be a question on the lips of many of the president’s supporters over the next several months. According to the former president, the answer will often be, “No.”
Donald Trump has long maintained that the criminal charges he is facing at the state and federal level amount to “election interference,” but he had previously declined to follow the logic of his claim to its conclusion. That is, until yesterday.
During a campaign stop in New Hampshire, Trump vented about the demands on his time his forthcoming criminal trials will make — demands that will force him to prioritize his freedom over his campaign for the White House:
“How can my corrupt political opponent, crooked Joe Biden, put me on trial during an election campaign that I’m winning by a lot, but forcing me nevertheless to spend time and money away from the campaign trail in order to fight bogus, made-up accusations,” he said.
Trump said that he might have to say, “Sorry, I won’t be able to go to Iowa today, I won’t be able to go to New Hampshire today because I’m sitting in a courtroom on bulls**t because his attorney-general charged me with something.”
Many of the courtroom appearances Trump will be expected to make over the next several months haven’t been set yet. The former president’s lawyers are attempting to push those proceedings off well into 2025, but the prosecution in his cases has signaled its intention to seek a speedy trial. Most likely, proceedings in Trump’s criminal trials will begin sometime in mid 2024, when, assuming Trump wins the Republican presidential nomination for a third consecutive time, he will also be campaigning for the White House.
Meanwhile, the dates of his upcoming civil procedures have been established. Per the New York Times:
Already, Mr. Trump is facing a state trial on civil fraud accusations in New York in October. Another trial on whether he defamed the writer E. Jean Carroll is set to open on Jan. 15 — the same day as the Iowa caucuses. On Jan. 29, a trial begins in yet another lawsuit, this one accusing Mr. Trump, his company and three of his children of using the family name to entice vulnerable people to invest in sham business opportunities.
Much has been written about the legitimacy, or lack thereof, of the charges Trump is facing. Legitimate or not, the former president will have to spend a lot of his time inside courtrooms, and that will take his attention away from the campaigns he plans to wage.
Trump is planning accordingly. Republican primary voters would be well advised to do the same.