Judge sets date for Donald Trump trial to begin the day before Alabama presidential primary

Alabama voters will go to vote for their choice for President of the United States on March 5. The leading Republican contender, former President Donald Trump, will be in court for his criminal trial that begins on March 4.

The judge in former President Trump’s Jan. 6-related federal court case announced Monday that jury selection will begin on March 4.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan declared that a trial date “cannot and should not” depend on the timetable of a defendant’s work life.

Special counsel Jack Smith had wanted the trial to begin in January.

Trump’s defense team had asked that, under the circumstances, the trial should be postponed until 2026. Judge Chutkan rejected that request and instead set the March 4 date – the day before the Super Tuesday primaries, which will likely determine the nominees for both major parties.

Trump accused Chukan of being a “biased Trump Hating judge” who set a trial date that was “just what our corrupt government wanted.”

Fulton County Prosecutor Fani Willis had asked the Chutkan to set the trial to begin on that same date. Trump faces four separate trials for 99 different indictments.

This trial in federal court has to deal with his actions on January 6, 2021. Did President Trump’s efforts to overturn the Electoral College results constitute an insurrection, and did he act illegally?

The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution specifically bars persons who participated in an insurrection from serving in federal office. This has to do with former members of the Confederate States of America who had taken up arms against the U.S.A. Some scholars argue that January 6 did constitute an insurrection, and this provision would apply. Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson made that argument during the first Republican Presidential Debate.

Trump also faces a trial in Georgia where prosecutors claim that he and 18 associates were involved in an illegal conspiracy to overturn Georgia’s presidential election results.

Trump also faces federal charges stemming from his alleged mishandling of classified documents found in his home in Mar-A-Lago, Florida. Classified documents were also found in Joe Biden’s Delaware home and Mike Pence’s home, and the issue of classified material by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. None of those people were ever charged with any crimes. 

Trump and his campaign are also charged with election fraud in New York City related to alleged payouts to former porn star Stormy Daniels and other women for silence about alleged illicit liaisons before Trump first ran in 2016.

Trump is the first former President in the history of the United States to be indicted for a crime. At present, he faces the prospect of four separate criminal trials on up to 99 different individual counts. Additionally, he has codefendants who have been charged in each of these four rounds of indictments. Potentially, all four of these trials could take place at separate points during the coming election year.

There is no evidence that all of the charges and allegations have hurt Trump in the polls. Trump remains extremely popular with Republican primary voters, but the legal jeopardy he faces have made some legal scholars question whether or not he can actually be the nominee.

How the legal drama will influence voters is an unknown, given the nation has never experienced a presidential campaign like this.

Many argue that some of these charges could have been brought before now. That prosecutors waited until Trump was a declared 2024 presidential candidate and then sought criminal trials amid the already established campaign calendar has led some Republicans to charge that Democrats have weaponized the courts against Trump.

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