DOJ: Trump’s 2026 trial date overstates case complexity.

Special ⁣counsel Jack Smith strongly opposes former President ⁣Donald​ Trump’s request for ⁢a trial to begin ​in April ⁢2026. According to Smith, Trump’s arguments are flawed, as he misrepresents the facts, ⁣exaggerates the​ amount of new evidence,‍ and overstates the challenges of reviewing it effectively.

Trump’s legal team has objected to Smith’s trial date for election case.”>proposed trial date of January 2, 2024, ​claiming that it denies them a fair opportunity​ to prepare. ⁤They ⁣argue⁣ that the Department of⁢ Justice has ‍already provided‌ them with an overwhelming 11.5 million pages of documents, equivalent to⁢ reading Tolstoy’s War and ⁣Peace cover to ​cover 78 ‍times a day. They also cite Trump’s busy legal calendar⁣ and‌ the complexity of​ the case‍ as additional reasons for‍ their objection.

The Department ⁣of Justice responded on August 21,‍ arguing​ that a 2026 start date would violate the public’s right to​ a speedy trial. The final​ decision ⁣on the⁣ trial date will be made by U.S. District Judge‌ Tanya Chutkan ⁢during ⁤a⁤ hearing on August 28.

President Trump is facing four counts related to his​ actions in challenging the 2020 election results. This is the second‍ criminal​ case brought against him⁢ by Jack Smith, who is also​ overseeing a ​separate case⁣ in Florida regarding mishandling of classified materials at Mar-a-Lago.

Discovery

The Department of Justice claims⁣ that despite‌ the ‌large volume of documents, approximately 65⁢ percent of the first batch were already accessible⁤ to President⁤ Trump, and 25 percent came from entities associated with​ him. The most crucial documents were​ included in the initial batch, and a smaller second ⁤batch ‌of ⁣615,000‌ pages was sent on‌ August 19, with 20​ percent originating from​ an entity linked ‍to President Trump.

These ⁣documents consist of President Trump’s tweets, ‍Truth Social posts, court papers, ⁢campaign ⁤statements, hundreds‍ of thousands ​of pages from the National Archives, and nearly 1 million pages from House ⁢committee investigations related​ to the January 6, 2021, Capitol protest. The DOJ ⁢also acknowledges ​that there⁣ are 100,000 duplicate pages, which were intentionally⁢ provided‌ in an organized and user-friendly manner.

The DOJ delivered the ​files ⁤to President⁣ Trump’s ⁢legal team through a‍ document review database, ‌allowing for electronic review instead of‍ manual‍ review. This significantly ‌reduces ​the ⁤time required by Trump’s lawyers, ​as the database enables keyword‌ searches, ​user-tagging, ⁣and ‍filtering.

“The defendant⁤ can, should, and apparently ‌will ‌adopt the benefits of electronic⁤ review to reduce the volume‌ of material needed to be ⁢searched and manually reviewed,” the filing states.

The DOJ​ emphasizes that the burden of ‌reviewing⁤ the discovery ⁣cannot be measured solely⁤ by page count, dismissing comparisons to the Washington Monument’s ‌height or the length of a ‌Tolstoy novel as distractions.

Scheduling

The‍ DOJ argues ‍that ⁤scheduling conflicts with President Trump’s other ⁣cases‍ can‌ be easily resolved by‍ starting this ​case on a different day of​ the week. They ⁣propose adjusting the jury⁢ selection start date to accommodate a ⁢motions hearing ‌in Trump’s criminal case in the Southern District of Florida.

Trump’s ‍lawyers⁢ had compared Jack Smith’s‌ proposed case⁢ schedule to other January 6-related cases, ⁣which had a median time of 29.4 months. Smith points out​ that the ⁣comparison‌ is​ irrelevant, as​ it does not consider the time required for sentencing.