Former President Donald Trump denounced a proposal from U.S. prosecutors to start the trial in less than five months on charges of trying to overturn the 2020 election results.
Special counsel Jack Smith asked a federal judge to begin Trump’s trial on Jan. 2, 2024, two weeks from when voters would first cast their ballots in the 2024 Republican presidential primary.
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“Deranged Jack Smith has just asked for a trial on the Biden Indictment to take place on January 2nd., just ahead of the important Iowa Caucuses,” the current GOP front-runner wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, on Thursday evening.
Smith has vowed that his office will seek a “speedy trial” after Trump was indicted and arraigned in a third case this year, with the latest criminal case including six unnamed co-conspirators who have yet to be indicted.
His proposed time frame for the trial did outline a date for a motions hearing, which is when requests for specific evidence to be excluded are made, but suggested by Sept. 25, both parties would need to have filed their written pretrial defense motions. The hearings would start no later than Nov. 13 and go to early December, and Smith proposed jury selection would start Dec. 11. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan will make the final call on the schedule.
“Only an out of touch lunatic would ask for such a date, ONE DAY into the New Year, and maximum Election Interference with IOWA!” Trump said.
The Iowa Republican presidential caucuses will be held on Jan. 15, and they have long been an indicator of a presidential candidate's viability.
“Such a trial, which should never take place due to my First Amendment Rights, and massive BIDEN CORRUPTION, should only happen, if at all, AFTER THE ELECTION,” Trump continued on Truth Social. “The same with other Fake Biden Indictments. ELECTION INTERFERENCE!”
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Trump pleaded not guilty in a Washington, D.C., courthouse to four criminal charges related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and is under investigation on multiple other fronts. His attorneys have attempted to delay the hearing in the case after rejecting a protective order from Smith, claiming it would infringe on Trump’s right to free speech.
Chutkan set the hearing on a proposed protective order for Friday morning.