ATLANTA / WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) – After the charges against former US President Donald Trump in connection with attempted election fraud in Washington, the Republican wants to delay the start of the trial. Trump’s lawyers requested on Thursday (local time) that the trial begin in the US capital in April 2026. Special Counsel Jack Smith, on the other hand, had suggested the trial begin on January 2, 2024. The responsible judge will probably decide at a hearing at the end of August.
“The public has an interest in justice and a fair trial, not in a hasty verdict,” says the application by Trump’s lawyers, who wants to run again in the November 2024 presidential election. His lawyers complain that the government material to be viewed comprises 11.5 million pages and that the download of the documents was still not complete after two days. The government was then asked to send hard drives and the material is now being fed into the system. As an illustration, a graphic was attached to the application to show that a stack of 11.5 million pages would be taller than the Statue of Liberty and the Washington Monument.
Trump is the first ex-president in US history to face criminal charges. In Washington, the Republican has faced federal charges over his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to Democrat Joe Biden. In the US state of Georgia, Trump is also facing charges of attempted voter fraud. There are four total charges against the Republican
– in addition to Washington and Georgia in New York and Miami. In New
In York, prosecutors have accused the 77-year-old of falsifying business documents, while in Florida it is about the affair of keeping secret government documents.
After the indictment in Georgia, Trump announced that he would hold a press conference next Monday at which he wanted to show alleged election fraud in the state. Neither Trump nor his lawyers have presented any evidence to support these claims. Dozens of lawsuits brought by the Trump camp were dismissed by courts after the election, including the US Supreme Court. The US broadcaster ABC reported that Trump’s lawyers had advised the 77-year-old to better cancel the press conference for legal reasons./nau/DP/mis