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A federal judge has scheduled jury selection to begin Feb. 9 in former president Donald Trump’s Washington, D.C., trial on charges of seeking to subvert the results of the 2020 election.
U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan set the date for hundreds of District residents to be summoned to the federal courthouse to complete a written questionnaire about the case.
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The historic trial for the country’s 45th president — who is also a leading candidate for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024 — is set to begin March 4, after in-person questioning by prosecutors, Trump’s defense attorneys and the judge.
Trump is seeking to postpone the trial, arguing among other things that it raises novel and historic legal questions, such as his claim that former presidents remain “absolutely immune” from criminal prosecution after leaving the White House.
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Trump was charged in August in a four-count, 45-page indictment that accused him of a criminal conspiracy to remain in power, obstruct Congress’s Jan. 6, 2021, joint session to confirm the electoral vote count, and deprive Americans of their civil right to have their vote counted.
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The case is one of four felony prosecutions Trump faces, including a state trial in Georgia that involves similar allegations of trying to obstruct the state’s election results; a federal indictment in Florida over Trump’s alleged retention and mishandling of classified documents after leaving the White House and his alleged attempt to block government officials from retrieving them; and a New York state business fraud prosecution accusing Trump of covering up hush money payments made during the 2016 election campaign.
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The Georgia case has not yet been scheduled for trial. The New York case is scheduled to go to trial in late March, and the federal case in Florida is scheduled for trial at the end of May. But trial dates often get pushed back, and U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon suggested Wednesday that she might delay the timeline for court proceedings in Fort Pierce, Fla., noting the upcoming trial in D.C. and requests from Trump’s lawyers to have more time to prepare.
Chutkan announced the February start of jury selection in D.C. on Thursday, in a two-page order that grants requests by special counsel Jack Smith to protect the privacy of prospective jurors. Trump’s defense largely agreed to those requests in an earlier court filing. The safeguards include barring either side from directly communicating with potential jurors, using “nonpublic databases” for juror research, disclosing prospective jurors’ names or identifying information, or providing identifying information to others.
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Smith has linked Trump’s efforts to overturn Joe Biden’s election victory to the violent riot carried out by his supporters after his Stop the Steal rally near the White House. “The attack on our nation’s Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy,” Smith has said. “It was fueled by lies, lies by the defendant.”
Trump has pleaded not guilty, and he and his lawyers have accused the Justice Department of targeting Biden’s chief political rival, maintaining that Trump was acting within the bounds of the presidency.
Separately, in a Thursday night filing, Trump’s legal team asked an appeals court to stay a limited gag order issued last month by Chutkan, arguing that the order unfairly muffles a leading presidential candidate.
The 35-page filing seeks a temporary suspension of the gag order and says that if Trump cannot sway the appeals court, he plans take the request to the Supreme Court.
More on the Trump Jan. 6 indictment The charges: Former president Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to charges that he plotted to overturn the 2020 election in the run-up to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Here’s a breakdown of the charges against Trump and what they mean, and things that stand out from the Trump indictment. Read the full text of the 45-page indictment, which references Pence or vice presidency more than 100 times.
The case: The special counsel’s office has been investigating whether Trump or those close to him violated the law by interfering with the lawful transfer of power after the 2020 presidential election or with Congress’s confirmation of the results on Jan. 6, 2021. It is one of several ongoing investigations involving Trump.
Can Trump still run for president? While it has never been attempted by a candidate from a major party before, Trump is allowed to run for president while under indictment — or even if he is convicted of a crime.
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