Trump didn’t get his request for a stay until 2026. The former president didn’t get his federal 1/6 trial delayed until after the 2024 election. Instead, Trump will stand trial on March 4, 2024.
NBC News reported:
It is only two months away from what the special counsel had proposed, which is January 2024, and the judge said that was too aggressive. But she didn’t really tell the Trump team anything at all, and they didn’t help themselves at this hearing with some rather bombastic remarks about the magnitude of the case. She immediately told them: look, April 2026 did not happen, that was not reasonable in her eyes. It was far too far from the real point of the alleged crimes; witnesses could lose their memories. She said give me a reasonable time frame you need to process all the discoveries in this case and they just wouldn’t do it. They would not get off their proposed date of April 2026. It’s pretty obvious they wanted to make a record so they could later appeal this question. But the judge said it is in the interest of justice and in the public interest to take this case to court.
The prosecutor, Molly Gaston, had something very interesting to say about that. She stood up after the defense presented arguments for a stay and said: This defendant is being charged with historic crimes and she said there is an incredible public interest in these claims being dealt with swiftly by a jury in open court. That is essentially what the judge has decided: that the public has a right to hear this case before the election, and it is not just the defendant’s right to a speedy trial, it is the public’s right to a fast process. She said the idea that the defense wouldn’t be able to process all the discoveries, 12.8 million documents, didn’t really convince her and she agreed with the prosecution’s argument that much of this evidence had been made available by the committee that investigated the case. . She set a trial date of March 4, 2024, which is when jury selection would begin.
Video:
Judge Chutkan rejects Trump’s proposed trial date and the trial of the former president on election interference begins on March 4, 2024. pic.twitter.com/6AJl6RUA6C
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticianSarah) August 28, 2023
Republican voters have made it clear they don’t care about the charges. They believe Trump claims this is a witch hunt, so it doesn’t matter if the trial takes place before the Iowa caucuses or Super Tuesday, it probably won’t affect the outcome of the Republican primary.
Where this ruling is devastating for Trump is the general election. If Trump is convicted of crimes related to his coup attempt, the conviction could be used as a legal argument disqualify him from the 2024 ballot.
Not only is Trump not getting the reprieve he’s been looking for, but if convicted, he could be dropped from the vote in key states in 2024.
The ruling is a disaster for Trump and a victory for the American people.
