WASHINGTON: Lawyers for Donald Trump on Thursday requested an April 2026 trial date on the federal charges that he conspired to overturn the 2020 election — long after next year’s presidential vote.

The request comes as lead prosecutor Jack Smith is pushing for a January 2 start date in the case, one of four criminal prosecutions that Trump is facing in the middle of his White House re-election campaign.

“The public interest lies in justice and fair trial, not a rush to judgment,” the ex-president’s lawyers said in their filing.

They argued the amount of documents in the case would require months to process.

“Assuming we could begin reviewing the documents today, we would need to proceed at a pace of 99,762 pages per day to finish the government’s initial production by its proposed date for jury selection,” they said.

“That is the entirety of Tolstoy’s War and Peace, cover to cover, 78 times a day, every day, from now until jury selection.” Judge Tanya Chutkan is set to decide the trial date on August 28.

“The government’s proposed (January 2) trial date represents an appropriate balance of the defendant’s right to prepare a defence and the public’s strong interest in a speedy trial in the case,” Smith previously said in a court filing asking for the January start.

The case is the most serious of four criminal probes that have yielded dozens of felony charges against Trump.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2023