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Special Prosecutor Jack Smith addresses reporters after his grand jury has issued more indictments of former President Donald Trump on August 01 in Washington, DC.

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Appeals court hearing in former U.S. President Trump's 2020 election subversion case is held at District Court in Washington

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Saul Loeb

Special counsel Jack Smith asked a federal judge Thursday to start former president Donald Trump’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/08/01/trump-indictment-jan-6-2020-election/" target=_blank>trial on charges of criminally conspiring to overturn President Biden’s election victory</a> on Jan. 2, just before the first caucus votes are cast in next year’s presidential nomination contest, according to a court filing.

U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan gave Trump’s team until Monday to make its own request and scheduled an Aug. 28 hearing in D.C. to set a trial date. Chutkan will hold her first hearing in the special counsel’s election subversion case Friday to resolve <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/08/07/protective-order-trump-jan-6/" target=_blank>a related dispute over finalizing a protective order limiting public disclosure of evidence in the case</a>, which Trump’s team says it needs before making trial plans.

In addition to his involvement in more than 4,000 lawsuits over the course of his half-century in real estate, entertainment and politics, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/04/29/trump-investigations-litigation/" target=_blank>Donald Trump has been the subject of investigations</a> by federal, state and regulatory authorities in every decade of his long career.

Federal investigators <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/inside-the-governments-racial-bias-case-against-donald-trumps-company-and-how-he-fought-it/2016/01/23/fb90163e-bfbe-11e5-bcda-62a36b394160_story.html" target=_blank>accuse Trump and his father of discriminating against Black New Yorkers</a> in renting out apartments. Case settles with no admission of guilt, but Trump has to run ads pledging not to discriminate.

Federal investigators look into whether Trump gave apartments in his Trump Tower to figures connected with organized crime to keep his project on track. Trump denies the allegation. Separately, New Jersey officials probe his ties with mob figures, then grant him a casino license.

New Jersey regulators investigate Trump’s finances and conclude he “cannot be considered financially stable,” yet extend his casino license to protect jobs at his Atlantic City hotel.

Federal securities regulators cite Trump’s casino for downplaying negative results in financial reporting.

New York state sues Trump, alleging his Trump University defrauded more than 5,000 people. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/03/31/judge-approves-25-million-settlement-in-trump-university-cases/" target=_blank>Trump is found personally liable</a>. After Trump becomes president, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/09/25/how-impeachment-works/" target=_blank>he is impeached</a> — and acquitted — over allegations that he solicited foreign interference in the U.S. presidential election.

Trump is impeached — and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-acquitted-impeachment-riot/2021/02/13/dbf6b172-6e12-11eb-ba56-d7e2c8defa31_story.html" target=_blank>acquitted</a> — a second time for incitement of the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/january-6-capitol-riot/" target=_blank>Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol</a>. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/21/trump-sued-new-york-letitia-james/" target=_blank>New York state sues Trump</a>, alleging he inflated assets to mislead lenders. He is also <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/07/26/trump-justice-investigation-january-6/" target=_blank>under criminal investigation for events surrounding Jan. 6</a> and his <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/10/21/trump-documents-mar-a-lago-iran-china/" target=_blank>handling of classified documents</a>.

In a court filing, prosecutors wrote, “It is difficult to imagine a public interest stronger than the one in this case, in which the defendant — the former president of the United States — is charged with three criminal conspiracies intended to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/08/01/trump-charges-2020-election-probe/?itid=lk_inline_manual_14" target=_blank>undermine the federal government, obstruct the certification of the 2020 presidential election,</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/08/01/trump-indictment-civil-rights-law/?itid=lk_inline_manual_14" target=_blank>disenfranchise voters</a>.” They added, “Trial in this case is clearly a matter of public importance, which merits in favor of a prompt resolution.”

Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/08/03/trump-court-appearance-dc-indictment/" target=_blank>pleaded not guilty in Washington last week</a> to the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/08/01/trump-indictment-jan-6-2020-election/" target=_blank>four counts</a> against him in the case.

The week’s rapid-fire developments underscore how aggressively both sides are contesting how quickly the case moves to trial. Smith’s team seeks “a speedy trial,” he has said, a result that could ease concerns that the prosecution could affect next year’s presidential election. Trump’s defense has urged a slower pace, arguing unsuccessfully in a separate special counsel prosecution in Florida that the trial should come after the November 2024 vote.

Speaking after his round Thursday in the LIV Golf pro-am tournament at his course in Bedminster, N.J., Trump said: “The trials should be after the election. Because this is just election interference. … This is an indictment set up by crooked Joe Biden. … This was an indictment that was set up by a political opponent.”

Smith’s proposed date falls before the busiest month of next year’s front-loaded primary calendar and just days before the third anniversary of the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/january-6-capitol-riot/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">Jan. 6</a>, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Only four states so far have set caucus or primary dates in January and February, with a small number still finalizing early slots in hopes of playing a greater influence in the outcome. More than half — 26 states and counting — are expected to select party nominees in March, with the rest following in April, May and early June.

Legal analysts say the race to trial is a useful lens for interpreting each side’s moves, including Smith’s decision to seek a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/08/01/trump-indictment-jan-6-2020-election/" target=_blank>streamlined indictment on Aug. 1 against Trump alone</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/08/07/protective-order-trump-jan-6/" target=_blank>increasing the chances of a trial before the election</a>. But others cautioned that Chutkan and courts are acting independently, mindful that Trump faces a series of trials next year, including <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/07/21/trump-trial-date-classified-documents/" target=_blank>one set for May by U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon</a> in Florida on special counsel <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/06/09/indictment-document-trump-classified-documents-pdf/?itid=lk_inline_manual_4" target=_blank>criminal charges </a>of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/06/08/trump-classified-documents-mar-a-lago/" target=_blank>mishandling classified papers and obstruction</a> after leaving office.

“Although it seems that trials in both cases can be completed before November 2024, I think a judge of integrity would tell you that the dates of nominating conventions and elections are irrelevant to their consideration,” said Barbara McQuade, a former federal prosecutor and University of Michigan law professor. “Both judges must balance the public’s right to a speedy trial with Trump’s right to due process.”

Special counsel prosecutors originally sought a December 2023 trial date before <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/06/09/aileen-cannon-judge-trump-classified-documents/" target=_blank>Cannon</a>, but she split the difference after Trump’s defense warned that moving that fast “would result in a miscarriage of justice.” Potentially foreshadowing their pitch in arguments to Chutkan, Trump’s attorneys Todd Blanche and John Lauro argued unsuccessfully to Cannon that holding a trial during the election contest would be unfair to Trump, limit his ability to campaign and add to the burden of preparing for two other trials he is facing: an unrelated criminal trial in Manhattan in March, and a civil trial, also in New York, scheduled to begin in October, over fraud allegations leveled by the state’s attorney general.

Cannon’s ruling implicitly rejected those claims. Separately, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg — whose office is prosecuting Trump on state charges of falsifying business records in connection with hush money payments during the 2016 election — <a href="https://www.wnyc.org/story/manhattan-da-bragg-crime-mental-health-and-more/" target=_blank>has said he is open to letting federal prosecutors go first</a> and yielding the March slot.

In Thursday’s filing, prosecutors estimated that the government’s case “will take no longer than four to six weeks.” They proposed briefing expected motions to dismiss charges or challenge the indictment by Halloween, exclude evidence by Thanksgiving, and begin and finish jury selection before Christmas, in time for opening statements immediately after New Year’s Day 2024.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Molly Gaston argued that the proposal would give Trump’s defense two months from indictment to make legal arguments and up to five months to review evidence in the case, which the government said it expects to substantially turn over before Aug. 28.

“This Court — like federal courts throughout the nation — can and will ensure that the defendant receives both a fair and speedy trial,” Gaston wrote. She said that under both the Constitution’s Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial and federal law, “the right to a timely trial is vested in the public, not just in the defendant.”

Prosecutors flagged that the case might require potential disclosure of some classified information but said the “minimal amount” in question could be addressed through a parallel schedule that would not change its proposed schedule, in part because one of Trump’s lawyers possesses the necessary clearance.

Friday’s hearing will turn to a debate over a protective order. Such orders are typical before the government turns over material to defendants. Trump and his lawyers said they need that information to know when they could be ready for trial and how long his defense might take. They objected that limits sought by the special counsel’s office are overbroad and could infringe on the First Amendment rights of Trump, Biden’s main political opponent.

Prosecutors said they proposed a standard order used in federal criminal cases in D.C. that limits are especially needed on grand jury and other materials because of Trump’s history of using social media to attack witnesses, prosecutors, judges and others involved in cases against him, and that Trump’s proposed version is “designed to allow him to try this case in the media rather than in the courtroom.”

Chutkan appears to be moving on a similar pace to Cannon in deciding on an order. Her hearing comes eight business days after Trump’s indictment in Washington. Cannon approved a similar order for unclassified materials in Trump’s classified documents case eight days after his indictment in Florida, although the sides are still wrangling over how to handle security-restricted information.

Finalist, Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, National Emmy Award nominee, Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi Award for Public Service, Ursula and Gilbert Farfel Prize for Excellence in Investigative Reporting, American Immigration Lawyers Association Media Leadership Award,

Harvard University, B.A. in English

Spencer S. Hsu is an investigative reporter, two-time Pulitzer finalist and national Emmy Award nominee. Hsu has covered homeland security, immigration, Virginia politics and Congress.

Spencer Hsu

University of New Mexico

Rick Maese is a sports features writer for The Washington Post. He has written about the NFL since joining The Post in 2009, including three seasons as beat writer for the Washington Redskins.

Rick Maese

Special counsel proposes Jan. 2 trial for Trump in election case

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