The Trump team is calling for the 2020 election process to be delayed by more than two years
Lawyers for former President Donald Trump want to delay the trial by more than two years over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election – one of the many upcoming court cases he faces – and say they need more time to prepare.
Federal prosecutors have suggested January 2, 2024 as the start of the trial of the 77-year-old over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election — less than two weeks before the Iowa election.
But Trump’s legal team claimed Thursday that an April 2026 start date is much more appropriate to pursue allegations that he conspired to maintain his power as president by reversing the 2020 findings.
In a formal motion, his attorneys asked a federal judge to deny the Justice Department’s recommended date for what they called “an unprecedented case in American history.”
“The incumbent government has targeted its main political opponent – and frontrunner in the upcoming presidential election – with criminal prosecution.” Trump’s lawyers wrote.
“The government has committed tens of millions of dollars to this effort and established an Office of Special Counsel with dozens of staff, many of whom appear to be full-time on this case and only on this case.”
Team Trump argued that they needed an additional two years and three months to prepare due to the exorbitant amount of evidence gathered by federal prosecutors.
They claimed they had to sift through more than 100,000 pages of discovery documents every day in preparation for the planned Jan. 2 launch date.
“If we were to print and stack 11.5 million document pages with no gaps between pages and at 200 pages per inch, the result would be a tower of paper reaching almost 5,000 feet into the sky. That’s taller than the Washington Monument, which is stacked eight high and has nearly a million sides left,” the defense attorneys wrote.
They also claimed that the Justice Department — at President Biden’s request — spent about two and a half years preparing to bring a four-tier indictment against his predecessor.
Trump’s legal team had until Wednesday to respond to prosecutors’ request, and an Aug. 28 hearing will set the trial date.
The indictment was filed earlier this month and accused Trump of conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official process, obstruction of an official process and attempted obstruction, and conspiracy against rights.
His lawyers accused prosecutors of speeding up the process to gain an advantage over Trump by demanding that the trial begin on the first official working day of the new year.
“The government’s goal is clear: to deprive President Trump and his attorneys of the opportunity to adequately prepare for the trial. The court should deny the government’s request,” the legal team said.
Trump’s 2024 calendar should already be filled with court dates for four criminal cases in four different cities.
He is also expected to campaign throughout the primary season as he prepares for the 2024 election.
Despite his growing number of indictments and criminal charges, Trump continues to dominate GOP polls.
Trump has regularly ridiculed the mounting cases against him, calling each charge a “really big medal of honor” earlier this month.
“It’s not going to have any impact because every time they file an indictment, we’re up in the polls,” Trump said at the annual Alabama GOP dinner in Montgomery, just a day after he was in Washington DC about the charges on pleading not guilty he claimed he conspired to overthrow the 2020 presidential election.
