Judge in DC sets Trump trial for March 4

The federal judge overseeing former president Donald Trump's prosecution on charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election set a trial date on Monday for March, rejecting Trump's lawyers' proposal to begin it in April 2026.

Judge Tanya Chutkan said at a hearing in Washington that defense attorneys didn't need two years to examine the extensive evidence in the case. She also said prosecutors' request for a Jan 2, 2024, start date — two weeks before the first Republican primary votes will be cast in Iowa's Jan 15 caucuses — didn't give defense attorneys enough time to prepare.

"My primary concern here is the interest of justice and that I've balanced the defendant's right to adequately prepare" with the need for an efficient trial, said Chutkan.

Trump is a front-runner in the Republican 2024 presidential contest, and the Washington trial's starting date is the day before the Super Tuesday presidential primaries and caucuses in 15 states.

The date also coincides with a proposal from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in Atlanta, who is prosecuting Trump and 18 co-defendants on racketeering and other charges related to the 2020 election.

Trump's lawyers sought an April 2026 date due in part to the extended period of time they said they would need to review the large amount of discovery evidence the government has provided in the case.

Trump attorney John Lauro argued that much time was needed to deal with a mountain of evidence — more than 12 million pages of documents, the separate defense investigation and potentially 250 government witnesses, government witnesses, though prosecutors suggested the number of key witnesses is much smaller.

Lauro said while they will abide by the date set by Chutkan, "we will not be able to provide adequate representation" to Trump and that it would deny him "effective assistance of counsel".

Lauro argued against the trial date, and Chutkan told him twice, "Let's take the temperature down," and said Trump has "considerable resources that every criminal defendant does not usually have:".

Chutkan said she believed she was giving Trump's legal team "adequate time" to prepare, while ensuring "the public's interest in seeing this case resolved in a timely manner".

She said she had spoken briefly to the judge overseeing Trump's hush money case in Manhattan, to advise him of the likely overlap. That case is scheduled to go to trial in late March, after Trump pleaded not guilty this spring to a 34-count indictment charging him with falsifying business records in connection with a payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels days before the 2016 presidential election.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who brought the case, declined to comment to ABC News, but has said in the past that although his office was the first of four jurisdictions to bring charges against Trump, he wouldn't object to other cases going to trial first.

Trump earlier this month pleaded not guilty to charges of undertaking a "criminal scheme" to overturn the results of the 2020 election by enlisting a slate of so-called "fake electors"" using the Justice Department to conduct "sham election crime investigations", trying to enlist the vice-president to "alter the election results" and promoting false claims of a stolen election as the Jan 6 riot at the Capitol raged all in an effort to subvert democracy and remain in power.

Trump has denied all wrongdoing and denounced the charges as "a persecution of a political opponent".