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How many trials against Donald Trump are taking place now and when will they end?

Donald Trump is juggling a number of court dates stemming from the four state and federal criminal cases that he is indicted in as well as civil lawsuits.

Donald Trump’s hectic courtroom schedule
BRENDAN MCDERMIDREUTERS

Donald Trump is once again running to be President of the United States. According to polling, he is the unquestionable front-runner at the moment among the GOP contenders to face President Joe Biden in the 2024 General Elections.

However, while campaigning he will also have to juggle a busy schedule of courtroom appearances.The GOP primary season is set to kick off in January.

How many trials against Donald Trump are taking place now?

The trails Trump and his lawyers will have to attend stem from four criminal indictments, with a total of 91 felony charges, in both state and federal courts in four different cities in four jurisdictions along with two civil trials. They include a civil lawsuit and criminal indictments on illicit activities related to his business dealings in New York. Additionally, he will face a second defamation lawsuit brought against him by writer and former advice columnist for Elle magazine E Jean Carroll.

Also, state and federal felony criminal cases for his involvement in trying to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 election which he lost to Biden. As well as a federal prosecution over his handling and withholding of sensitive classified documents after leaving the White House.

The various courts will have their work cut out for them to negotiate between them the scheduling Tetris for the proceedings so that Trump and his lawyers aren’t requested to be in more than one place at the same time. Here’ the schedule so far.

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Calendar dates for Donald Trump’s trials and when they could end

Not all of the proceedings have trial dates scheduled. District Attorney Fani Willis had petitioned for the Georgia election interference case to being in March. There is no word yet on any trial date for that month in which Trump already has two days marked in his calendar to be in Washington DC and another in New York.

Whether all the trials will be able to proceed as planned has yet to be seen as each will take weeks meaning dates could overlap. Part of Trump’s legal strategy is to delay, and some of the trials may be pushed into 2025. The defendant has made no secret that that would be a victory, especially if he wins the 2024 elections.

As president he could lean on the Justice Department to squash the federal cases or potentially pardon himself. That wouldn’t be the case in the state criminal cases but there is a long-standing DOJ policy that a sitting president can’t be prosecuted which could apply to the state cases.

New York civil lawsuit against Trump

Currently, testimony is being heard in the New York civil lawsuit against Trump, two of his adult sons and the Trump Organization for fraudulently inflating the value of assets which kicked off 2 October. The judge overseeing the proceedings Arthur Engoron had already released a summary judgment that validated many of the findings in the Attorney General of New York Letitia James’ investigation.

Lawyers for Trump, who only hires the best, failed to request that the case to be heard by a jury, something the defendant made clear he was upset about but tried to blame the system instead of his legal team’s incompetence.

That means that the judge will hand down the verdict at the end of the proceedings. As it is a civil lawsuit, Trump is not required to attend the proceedings, but he did show up for the first two and a half days of the trial and was present again this past week. Engoron has set a deadline for the trial to wrap up by 22 December.

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E Jean Carroll defamation lawsuit against Trump

In May, a jury found that Trump had sexually abused E Jean Carroll and defamed her, awarding her $5 million in damages. Based on that verdict, in September, Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled that it will carry over to a separate 2019 defamation lawsuit streamlining that case.

A jury was scheduled to hear testimony 15 January 2024 to determine further damages, which is also the date of that the Iowa caucuses will be held, the first contest on the GOP primary calendar. However, as it is a federal holiday it has been postponed to the following day.

Trump has at least two trial dates in March on criminal charges in DC and New York

As mentioned before, the Georgia DA has asked for a trial date to be set for March 2024, however, Trump already has two dates marked on his calendar when proceedings are scheduled to begin for jury selection.

The first is for 4 March, the day before Super Tuesday when 15 states hold primaries, the greatest number on a single day. That will be the start of the federal case prosecuting Trump’s alleged attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election and involvement in the January 6 assault on the US Capitol to be held in Washington DC.

Trump’s lawyers had pushed to delay the trial until April 2026 citing Trump’s campaigning obligations among others but US District Judge Tanya Chutkan did not agree. “Mr. Trump will have to make the trial date work, regardless of his schedule,” said the judge.

Then on 25 March 2024 Trump’s legal team will have to be in New York City when the trial into the 2016 hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels by Michael Cohen on behalf of the then-first-time presidential candidate. In the first criminal case brought against him, Trump is facing 34 felony counts handed down by a grand jury convened by District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Trump trial date set for Mar-a-Lago classified documents case

The first federal investigation that resulted in criminal charges against the former president came in June. Special Council Jack Smith indicted Trump on a total of 40 felony charges for withholding sensitive classified government documents when he left the White House and obstructing authorities from recovering them. That trial is scheduled to begin 20 May 2024.

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