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By Katherine Fung
Senior Writer
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Representative Ro Khanna questioned whether former President Donald Trump would be able to get a "fair" shot at campaigning if his criminal trials begin at the height of the Republican primaries.
The progressive Democrat told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt in a Tuesday interview that since Trump's court dates could still be rescheduled, he thinks the current timeline will be amended to avoid jeopardizing the former president's 2024 campaign and to stem blowback from the public.
"My instinct on all of this is they're not going to have trials in the middle of something that's going to compromise a candidate's ability who has real traction to have a fair fight," Khanna said about the timing of the proceedings. "I just don't see that happening in our country."
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"We need to make sure that in the timing, if Trump does emerge as the Republican nominee, that it does not compromise the ability to have a robust campaign schedule," the congressman said. "I imagine that the courts will take that into consideration if he is the nominee."
Newsweek reached out to the Trump campaign via email for comment.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing Trump's federal election interference case, has set a trial date for March 4, 2024, setting up a timeline for the criminal case much closer to Special Counsel Jack Smith's request for January 2 than Trump's team's push for April 2026. Trump, who has pleaded not guilty to all charges, said in a Truth Social post that he's planning to appeal the court date.
Should the proceedings take place on Chutkan's proposed schedule, Trump's trial would begin a day before the GOP presidential primary's "Super Tuesday," when Republican voters will head to polls in 16 states and territories, including Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, American Samoa, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Maine, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont and Virginia. It is considered one of the biggest days in the election cycle. The March 4 date also coincides with the proposed trial start date from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is prosecuting the election interference case against Trump and 18 of his associates in Georgia.
As a defendant in a criminal case, Trump is required to be present in the courtroom during the trial of an indictment. Rather than being on the campaign trail or in one of the various states holding an election or caucus on March 5, the former president may need to be in Washington, D.C., or Atlanta, depending on whether one of the trials will start on the desired date.
Khanna highlighted that the dates are still subject to the judicial process, in which Trump's lawyers could argue for the trial to start later on.
"I'm not sure that that's going to be the actual date at the end of the day. There's appeals, there's an ability to move it," the California Democrat said. "Let's see what happens... I'm a member of Congress. It's not for me to make the decisions on where the trial dates are going to happen."
Khanna said that if Trump were not to secure the Republican nomination, it's likely that the trials will continue as scheduled.
Although the former president saw a dip in support after he chose not to appear at the Republican National Committee's first primary debate last week, he is still the frontrunner in the race and remains far ahead of his opponents with 50 percent support from GOP voters, according to a Monday poll from Emerson College. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis shored up the second-highest support at 12 percent.
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