On Thursday, August 10th, Special Counsel Jack Smith requested a January 2, 2024 trial date in the insurrection case against Donald Trump.[1] Objecting to such an early trial, Trump immediately fired back that Smith was “deranged” and the date was “election interference,” given the Iowa caucuses are just two weeks later on January 15, 2024.[2]
The prosecutors have indicated that the first batch of discovery material they will share with Trump’s team includes roughly 11.6 million pages.[3] For the defense to just review that much evidence — and there’s more to come — would most likely take longer than five months.
Trump, on the other hand, wants to delay the trial until after the 2024 election. He is betting on winning the election. As president, he would then fire Smith and Attorney General Merrick Garland and have the charges dropped by his newly appointed attorney general.
By calling for such an early trial, Smith is giving U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan room to set a compromise date that would still be prior to the general election campaign next fall. The judge indicated that she would set the trial date at the next pretrial hearing on August 28th.
If the trial is to be before the election — given that the voting public needs to know the verdict before going to the polls — it stands to reason the case should be heard before the Republicans choose their candidate for president next July. The GOP must know whether Trump is a convicted felon before it chooses its nominee.
Then, on Friday, Judge Chutkan held a hearing regarding “protective orders” governing evidence. Smith’s motion for a protective order was in response to Trump’s post on social media: “If you go after me, I’m coming after you.”[4] Trump has made a number of other threatening or intimidating remarks targeting potential witnesses, like former Vice President Mike Pence, as well as Smith, that could also impact the jury pool.[5]
But Trump’s bullying just may backfire. In response to his public browbeating, Judge Chutkan made it clear that she would not tolerate Trump harassing or threatening witnesses. She noted:
Even arguably ambiguous statements from parties or their counsel, if they can be reasonably interpreted to intimidate witnesses or to prejudice potential jurors, can threaten the process…The more a party makes inflammatory statements about this case which could taint the jury pool, the greater the urgency will be that we proceed to trial quickly.[6]
We all know what a hard time Trump has keeping his mouth shut. The judge has warned him and his lawyers that she “will take whatever measures are necessary to safeguard the integrity of these proceedings.”[7] That could even include incarcerating Trump prior to the trial. Just a few days ago in another federal criminal case, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan revoked Sam Bankman-Fried’s bail and ordered him jailed pending trial for attempting “to tamper with witnesses” in his multibillion-dollar fraud case.[8]
While Trump may have valid arguments for a trial date later than next January, Trump’s inability to behave ethically in accordance with the judge’s orders may hasten his trial date and lead to his downfall. In effect, Trump is his own worst enemy.
Bruce Berlin
A retired, public sector ethics attorney, Berlin is the author of Breaking Big Money’s Grip on America (See breakingbigmoneysgrip.com.), the founder of New Mexicans for Money Out of Politics, a former U.S. Institute of Peace fellow, and the founder and former executive director of The Trinity Forum for International Security and Conflict Resolution. He can be reached at breakingbigmoneysgrip@gmail.com.
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[1] https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-push-for-january-trial-date-in-jan-6-case-against-donald-trump/
[2] https://www.yahoo.com/news/rattled-trump-melts-down-truth-135728272.html
[3] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-protective-order-january-6-case-judge-hearing/
[4] https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/04/feds-alert-judge-to-trumps-if-you-go-after-me-im-coming-after-you-post-00109944
[5] https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-mike-pence-attacks-jan6-trial-1818217
[6] https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/11/judge-warns-trump-speed-trial-00110870
[7] Ibid.
[8] https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/11/sam-bankman-fried-sent-to-jail-while-he-awaits-trial-00110933