Former President Donald Trump’s lawyers want to delay the trial over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election — one of the many impending court cases he faces — by more than two years, claiming they need more time to prepare.
Federal prosecutors proposed a Jan. 2, 2024, start date for the 77-year-old’s trial over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election — under two weeks before the Iowa caucuses.
But Trump’s legal team claimed Thursday that an April 2026 start date is much more appropriate to delve into accusations that he conspired to maintain his presidential power by overturning the 2020 results.
In a formal filing, his attorneys asked a federal judge to reject the Justice Department’s recommended date for what they called “an unprecedented case in American history.”
“The incumbent administration has targeted its primary political opponent — and leading candidate in the upcoming presidential election — with criminal prosecution,” Trump’s lawyers wrote.
“The administration has devoted tens of millions of dollars to this effort, creating a special counsel’s office with dozens of employees, many of whom are apparently assigned full-time to this case and this case alone.”
Team Trump argued that they need an additional two years and three months to prepare because of the exorbitant amount of evidence compiled by federal prosecutors.
They claimed they would have to sift through more than 100,000 pages of discovery documents per day in order to be prepared for the proposed Jan. 2 start date.
“If we were to print and stack 11.5 million pages of documents, with no gap between pages, at 200 pages per inch, the result would be a tower of paper stretching nearly 5,000 feet into the sky. That is taller than the Washington Monument, stacked on top of itself eight times, with nearly a million pages to spare,” the defense lawyers wrote.
They also alleged that the Justice Department — at the whim of President Biden — spent roughly 2.5 years preparing to lodge a four-count indictment against his predecessor.
Trump’s legal team had until Wednesday to respond to prosecutors’ motion, and an Aug. 28 hearing will settle determine the trial date.
The charges were handed down earlier this month, accusing Trump of conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights.
His lawyers accused prosecutors of expediting the trial in order to gain an advantage over Trump by requesting that the trial begin on the first official workday of the new year.
“The government’s objective is clear: to deny President Trump and his counsel a fair ability to prepare for trial. The Court should deny the government’s request,” the legal team said.
Trump’s 2024 calendar was already expected to be packed with court dates for four criminal cases in four different cities.
He is also anticipated to be on the campaign trail throughout primary season as he gears up for the 2024 election.
Despite his growing pile of indictments and criminal charges, Trump continues to dominate the GOP polls.
Trump has routinely ridiculed the mounting cases against him, calling each charge earlier this month “truly great badge of honor.”
“It’s not going to make any impact, because every time they file an indictment we go way up in the polls,” Trump said at the annual Alabama GOP dinner in Montgomery, just one day after he pleaded not guilty in Washington, DC on charges alleging he conspired to overturn the 2020 presidential election.