Former President Donald Trump sits in the courtroom before the start of closing arguments in his civil business fraud trial at New York Supreme Court, Jan. 11, 2024, in New York.Seth Wenig/The Associated Press
Donald Trump faces a crowded calendar this year as the Republican former president campaigns to win back the White House in the U.S. election while defending himself in four criminal cases.
Here are key dates in Trump’s legal and political schedule:
APRIL 15: Criminal trial in New York
Start of a New York state criminal trial, in which Trump is accused of falsifying business records to cover up a hush-money payment to a porn star before the 2016 presidential election. So far, this is the only one of Trump’s four criminal cases that is guaranteed to start before the Nov. 5 election.
APRIL 16: Jan. 6 trial at the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court holds a hearing to consider whether a man involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol can be charged with “obstructing an official proceeding.”
That could have implications for Trump, as that is one of the charges he is facing in a federal criminal case that accuses him of illegally trying to reverse his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
APRIL 25: Supreme Court hearing to consider whether Trump can be prosecuted for actions he took as president.
Legal experts say the court is likely to reject his argument, but its decision to take up the matter means that the federal election-subversion case, originally scheduled for early March, now might not take place until after the election.
Experts say the court would need to issue a decision by early June to leave enough time for the trial to wrap up before Election Day. If Trump were to win back the White House, he would have the power to end the two criminal cases being prosecuted by the U.S. Justice Department, but not the two state cases. The court, which holds a 6-3 conservative majority, ruled on March 4 that states can’t bar Trump from their ballots on the grounds that he incited an insurrection by encouraging his supporters to attack the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
MAY 20: Florida court date in mishandling classified documents case
This image, contained in the indictment against former President Donald Trump, shows boxes of records stored in a bathroom and shower in the Lake Room at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla.The Associated Press
Scheduled trial date for a federal criminal case in Florida that charges Trump with mishandling classified documents after he left office.
The trial is not expected to actually begin on this day, as the judge is still considering legal challenges by Trump’s lawyers.
Prosecutors have proposed a July trial, while Trump’s lawyers have floated an August date while arguing that it should not take place before the election.
LATE MAY
Trump’s New York criminal trial is expected to wrap up around this time.
JUNE 4
The final Republican presidential primaries take place.
END OF JUNE
The Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision on Trump’s immunity claim by this date.
JULY 15-18
Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where the party formally chooses its candidate. Trump has already won enough delegates to clinch the nomination.
UNDETERMINED
Trial dates have not yet been set for Trump’s two other criminal cases.
The federal election-subversion case is on hold pending Supreme Court review. Another election subversion case in Georgia has likewise been sidetracked for several months, as Trump’s lawyers argued that Fulton County Prosecutor Fani Willis should be removed for having an affair with a lawyer she hired for the case. The judge ruled that Willis could stay on the case as long as the other lawyer resigned, but Trump has appealed that decision.
NOV. 5
Election Day