Like every presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump has a hectic year ahead of him. Unlike his competitors, criminal indictments may force him to sacrifice time on the campaign trail for appearances in court.
While Republican primary dates haven’t been confirmed and Trump’s court dates could be moved, it will be a busy few months for the former president and front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
The pressure starts on Jan. 15 with the Iowa caucuses, the first test of the 2024 election cycle. That’s the same day the E. Jean Carroll civil defamation trial is due to start.
And that’s just the beginning. Carroll’s suit is one of four cases, two criminal trials and two civil trials, on the calendar for Trump in 2024. Though a court appearance isn’t required for the civil trials, the former president doesn’t need to be present for it to be a distraction.
Carroll seeks $10 million in damages based on comments Trump made during a CNN town hall in May. Trump’s comments were made the day after the culmination of Carroll’s first defamation trial against him, in which a federal court jury found him liable for sexually abusing Carroll in the 1990s and subsequently defaming her. Because it is a civil trial, Trump is not required to appear in court. He did not attend the proceedings of the previous trial.
Carroll’s first trial against the former president lasted from April 25 to May 9, just over two weeks. Should the upcoming trial last longer, it could overlap with other primaries.
Even without a trial, Trump has a packed schedule in February, with three primary elections across the country. February’s Republican primaries include Nevada, South Carolina and Michigan.
March is even busier than February. On Super Tuesday, voters will head to the polls for 13 Republican primaries.
Twenty-one Republican primaries are scheduled for March, which could give Trump a sense of where he stands with the electorate before the scheduled start of his next trial. He is due in court March 25, just two days after the Louisiana primary.
The March trial will center on Trump’s hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels. The former president’s attorney, Michael Cohen, who paid Daniels a sum of $130,000, had his reimbursement recorded in Trump’s business accounts.
The 34 felony counts of falsifying business records accuse Trump of disguising the reimbursement to Cohen as legal fees. Trump pleaded not guilty to all 34 charges in April.
It’s likely that the trial that begins in March would continue into April and possibly coincide with the Republican primaries on April 2.
In May, Trump isn’t scheduled to appear in court until the end of the month. An official day for the classified documents trial has yet to be set, but it will begin at some point after May 20.
Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 charges regarding both his retention of classified documents after leaving the White House and attempts to conceal the documents from investigators.
During the 2016 campaign cycle, Ted Cruz, the last remaining Republican candidate opposing Trump, dropped out of the race in the first week of May. That unofficially made Trump the Republican nominee. Should 2024 follow a similar pattern, the classified documents trial could start with Trump as both a defendant and the Republican presidential nominee.
Depending on the start date and length of the classified documents trial in late May, Trump could be in court on June 4 when polls open in New Mexico, New Jersey and South Dakota in the last Republican primary elections of 2024.
There are no court dates scheduled in July. Authorities in Georgia also could soon charge Trump on accusations of trying to reverse the 2020 election results in the state.
On Thursday Trump pleaded not guilty to charges that he tried to steal the 2020 election − following his third arrest and court arraignment in four months. The next hearing is set for Aug. 28. Trump is accused of conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to threaten the rights of others, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding before Congress and obstruction of an official proceeding. The trial date has not been set yet.
Contributing: George Petras
SOURCE: Ballotpedia.org
