When will Donald Trump go on trial? How court case will fit around his 2024 campaign schedule
Donald Trump could be on trial at least six times in the next year, after facing formal criminal charges in court for the third time this week, this time over alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election result that culminated in a riot at the US Capitol.
Following his arraignment in Washington this week, the former US president is facing criminal charges in three different states, and is expected to attend another indictment in Georgia by the end of August. He also faces three separate civil suits.
His campaign calendar is quickly becoming packed with court appearances that intersect with key events on the 2024 political schedule. However, if the trial dates stay the same, Mr Trump is on course to clinch the GOP presidential nomination, before voters learn whether he has been convicted on any charges.
So when are the trials, and how do they fit in with his campaign schedule? Here’s what we know so far:
10 August: Mr Trump will be arraigned in Fort Pierce, Florida with three additional charges related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents after his tenure in the White House.
10 August: A judge in Georgia will consider a petition from Mr Trump’s lawyers after they filed a motion to remove Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from her investigation into alleged efforts to overturn Georgia’s presidential election results.
10 August: The US government has been asked to file a brief on the January 2021 riot case by this date, proposing a trial date and an estimate of how long the trial will take.
17 August: Mr Trump’s defence team will have to address those details by this date.
23 August: The first Republican presidential primary debate. Mr Trump has indicated he might not participate in the televised event. He also questioned why he had to share the stage with candidates who lag behind him in the polls.
28 August: Mr Trump will appear before Judge Tanya Chutkan in federal court in Washington for the first hearing in the January 2021 riot case. Prosecutors are likely to urge a speedy trial while the defence team may encourage Judge Chutkan to put the matter off until after the 2024 election (when Mr Trump could potentially order the case dropped if he is US president). The government is likely to ask Judge Chutkan to issue a protective order restricting how the defence team can handle evidence.
27 September: The second GOP presidential primary debate.
2 October: The $250m lawsuit against the Trump Organization begins. New York Attorney General Letitia James has accused Mr Trump and his company of manipulating property valuations to get tax breaks and better loan terms.
15 January 2024: The civil trial begins in writer E Jean Carroll’s second defamation suit, in which she accused Mr Trump of defaming her in June 2019 when he denied raping her in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s, claiming she was not his “type”. In May, a jury awarded Ms Carroll $5m for sexual abuse and defamation after Mr Trump called her allegations a “con job” in October 2022.
15 January: The nation’s first Republican caucuses take place in Iowa, where 40 delegates will be allocated to the 2024 Republican National Convention.
29 January: The trial begins in a class-action lawsuit accusing Mr Trump and his company of promoting a “get-rich-quick”‘” scheme that allegedly conned people into handing over cash.
6 February: The Nevada Republican primary.
27 February: The Michigan Republican primary.
5 March: The Super Tuesday primaries.
25 March: Mr Trump’s trial in the New York state criminal hush-money case is due to get underway – although this slot may be given over to the January 2021 election case. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is accusing Mr Trump of falsifying business records to conceal hush payments made to Stormy Daniels, a porn star, before the 2016 election.
14 May: The pretrial hearing in the classified documents case will be held, addressing issues about classified evidence or other matters related to the trial.
20 May: The criminal trial accusing Mr Trump of hoarding classified documents and obstructing the government’s efforts to retrieve them gets underway.
15-18 July: The Republican National Convention will be held, as campaigning ramps up.
5 November: Election day.
