Today Federal District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan will be hearing arguments from Special Counsel Jack Smith and the lawyers for the Malignant Loser on the trial date for felony charges related to his January 6 attempted coup and events leading up to that day. Smith is seeking a start date of January 2, 2024, while the Malignant Loser's lawyers are risibly asking for a start date of April 2026, roughly two and a half years after his August 1 indictment and a clear attempt to stall the trial and justice. From the New York Times:
"In most legal proceedings, the selection of a trial date is a largely mundane matter, depending on the number of defendants, the amount of evidence, and the schedules of the judge, prosecutors and defense lawyers.
But the timetables for Mr. Trump’s four trials have taken on outsize importance. That is not only because there are so many of them, each one needing a slot, but also because they are unfolding against Mr. Trump’s crowded calendar as the candidate leading the field for the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nomination.
As a further complication, Mr. Trump has made no secret in private conversations with his aides of his desire to solve his jumble of legal problems by winning the election. If either of the two federal trials he is confronting is delayed until after the race and Mr. Trump prevails, he could seek to pardon himself after taking office or have his attorney general simply dismiss the matters altogether.
At Monday’s hearing in Washington on the federal election charges, Judge Chutkan has said she also intends to discuss a schedule for handling the small amount of classified material that may emerge as evidence in the case. If she ultimately agrees to the government’s request to start the trial in January, it would be the first of Mr. Trump’s four cases to be tested in a courtroom." (our emphasis)
Hopefully, Judge Chutkan, who has warned the Malignant Loser's lawyers to keep their lawless client from intimidating witnesses and potential jurors, will also address his recent incendiary comments on social media promising revenge against his opponents. She has warned that if he persists, his trial date would be scheduled sooner, a strategy that the judges in his other three criminal cases should, but probably won't, follow.
UPDATE: The judge set the trial date for March 4, 2024.
