Former President Trump will be on trial in New York City next month to defend himself against charges brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, taking the 2024 GOP frontrunner off of the campaign trail.
But that won’t stop him. He says he’ll campaign at night.
“I’ll do it in the evening,” Trump said this week when asked how sitting in court to defend himself against charges brought by brought by Bragg related to alleged hush money payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign would affect his 2024 presidential campaign.
Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Former President Trump waves to the crowd on the field during halftime at the Palmetto Bowl between Clemson and South Carolina at Williams Brice Stadium Nov. 25, 2023, in Columbia, S.C. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
The former president, who will likely be the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee for the White House by the time the Bragg trial begins March 25, has been forced to tackle competing calendars for the last several months with presidential primaries and court dates in multiple jurisdictions.
So far this year, Trump dominated in the Iowa caucuses, left New Hampshire with a commanding victory, swept caucuses in Nevada and the U.S. Virgin Islands and is poised to win in South Carolina Feb. 24.
New York Attorney General Letitia James sits in the courtroom during the fraud trial of former President Trump and his children Nov. 3. (Dave Sanders-Pool/Getty Images)
But Trump’s victories haven’t come just from crisscrossing the country stumping on the campaign trail. He’s spent days in court in New York for Bragg’s case, the civil fraud trial stemming from New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit against him and his businesses and E. Jean Carroll’s defamation trial.
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He’s also appeared in court in Washington D.C. for special counsel Jack Smith’s case related to the 2020 election and in Florida for Smith’s case related to classified documents.
E. Jean Carroll, center, and attorney Roberta Kaplan, right, leave Manhattan Federal Court Jan. 26, 2024, in New York City. (GWR/Star Max/GC Images)
“President Trump has been attacked by the Democrats for eight years. He has stood strong through two sham impeachments, endless lies and now multiple baseless political witch hunts,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital. “The Democrats want Donald Trump in a courtroom instead of on the campaign trail delivering his winning message to the American people, but nothing will stop him from doing that.”
The first trial on the 2024 calendar was supposed to be in Washington, D.C., March 4 after special counsel Jack Smith charged the former president with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights.
Those charges stem from Smith’s investigation into whether Trump was involved in the Capitol riot Jan. 6, 2021, and any alleged interference in the 2020 election result.
Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Former President Trump, a Republican presidential candidate, points to supporters at the conclusion of a campaign rally at the Atkinson Country Club Jan. 16, 2024, in Atkinson, N.H. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
The trial was scheduled for March 4, the day before the March 5 Super Tuesday primary contests, when Alabama, Alaska, American Samoa, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Vermont vote to select a GOP nominee.
But Smith has asked the Supreme Court to rule on whether Trump can be prosecuted on charges relating to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. Trump has also appealed to the Supreme Court a lower court’s ruling on presidential immunity.
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The trial is paused until the Supreme Court makes its decisions. It is now unclear when — and if — that trial could begin.
But that doesn’t make the month of March free for campaign events. New York Judge Juan Merchan this week rejected Trump’s request to dismiss the charges against him from Bragg’s investigation. Merchan set jury selection for March 25 and said the trial will last approximately six weeks.
Alvin Bragg, left, and Donald Trump (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images I Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Bragg alleged Trump “repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal criminal conduct that hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election.”
Trump pleaded not guilty to all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree in New York.
Jury selection in that case will begin just after the Louisiana primary and ahead of April 2, when Connecticut, Delaware, New York, Rhode Island and Wisconsin voters hit the polls to select a GOP nominee.
Smith also charged Trump after his investigation into the former president’s alleged improper retention of classified records from his presidency at his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida.
Special counsel Jack Smith arrives to give remarks on a recently unsealed indictment that included four felony counts against former President Trump Aug. 1, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Trump pleaded not guilty to all 37 felony charges from that probe. The charges include willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and false statements.
Trump was then charged with an additional three counts as part of a superseding indictment from Smith’s investigation, an additional count of willful retention of national defense information and two additional obstruction counts. Trump pleaded not guilty.
That trial was set to begin on May 20, 2024, ahead of the Kentucky primary on May 21, the Oregon primary on May 25 and New Jersey’s primary June 4.
But U.S. District Judge of the Southern District of Florida Aileen Cannon, who is presiding over the case, said that date may be delayed. A decision will be made March 1 during the next court date.
“The Democrats want Donald Trump in a courtroom instead of on the campaign trail delivering his winning message to the American people, but nothing will stop him from doing that.”
Should Trump win the GOP nomination, he would spend July 15-18 at the Republican Convention in Milwaukee.
However, Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis has proposed her trial begin just weeks later.
Willis charged Trump as part of her investigation into his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the state. Trump was charged with one count of violation of the Georgia RICO Act, three counts of criminal solicitation, six counts of criminal conspiracy, one count of filing false documents and two counts of making false statements.
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He pleaded not guilty to all counts.
Fulton County DA Fani Willis (Getty Images)
Fulton County prosecutors have proposed that trial begin Aug. 5, 2024.
But Willis has been in court defending herself after revelations that she had a romantic relationship with prosecutor Nathan Wade, who she brought onto her team to help bring charges against Trump.
In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital this week, Trump blasted the case as a “sham.”
“There is no case here,” Trump said during Willis’ testimony. “It is so badly tainted. There is no case here.”
Trump told Fox News Digital “the case will have to be dropped.”
“There’s no way they can have a case,” Trump said. “The whole thing was a scam to get money for the boyfriend.”
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Commenting on all of the cases against him, Trump said, “It’s all corrupt stuff. It is all politics — using the law to try to stop a party that is substantially ahead, and a particular person that’s substantially ahead in every poll, including against Biden.
“This is all meant to stop me.”
