Former President Donald Trump’s attorney requested an April 2026 trial date in Trump’s criminal trial over his alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Special counsel Jack Smith indicted Trump on four counts, including conspiracy to defraud the U.S., conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights, in relation to the January 6 Capitol riots.
Smith claimed the government would seek a “speedy trial” in the matter in a statement released after the indictment was unsealed. Following Smith’s orders, U.S. Department of Justice attorneys then suggested a January 2, 2024 start date for the trial, just days before the Republican primary votes begin with the Iowa caucus.
In a motion on Thursday, Trump’s attorneys proposed the April 2026 start date. Trump’s attorneys revealed the government turned over “a massive, 8.5-terabyte initial production, totaling over 11.5 million pages, together with native files, recordings, and other electronic data not amenable to pagination.”
Trump’s attorneys recognized the unprecedented nature of the case, where the “incumbent administration has targeted its primary political opponent—and leading candidate in the upcoming presidential election—with criminal prosecution.”
The motion stated:
In this District, ordinary order when faced with such overwhelming discovery is to set a reasonable trial schedule, commensurate with the size and scope of discovery and complexity of the legal issues. The government rejects this sensible approach. Instead, it seeks a trial calendar more rapid than most no-document misdemeanors, requesting just four months from the beginning of discovery to jury selection. The government’s objective is clear: to deny President Trump and his counsel a fair ability to prepare for trial. The Court should deny the government’s request.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, an Obama donor related to revolutionary marxist fighters, is expected to set a trial for the case on August 28.
Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter.