Former New Jersey Superior Court Judge Andrew Napolitano told Newsmax on Tuesday that setting a March 4 trial date for former President Donald Trump in the federal election case is a "political" move that seemingly contradicts the Department of Justice's own internal guidelines.
"The DOJ's regulation — and it's a guideline, it's not a regulation — says there should not be an indictment or a trial 90 days before and 90 days after an Election Day," Napolitano said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America." "Key point in the way they wrote this — Election Day. Not primary day, but Election Day. So, you're talking about the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. That's the way they'll get around it."
U.S. Judge Tanya Chutkan on Monday set a trial date of March 4 for the federal case in Washington, D.C., one of four criminal prosecutions Trump faces.
Trump will stand trial for allegedly attempting to alter the outcome of the 2020 presidential election one day before "Super Tuesday," when states from Maine to California will hold their nominating contests.
"I am not surprised by it," Napolitano said. "The court takes the position that she [Chutkan] must separate politics from what happens in the courtroom, and she said three times yesterday that Donald Trump will get no more or no less courtesy than an ordinary criminal defendant in a federal courtroom.
"Now, criminal defendants don't get that much respect, even though they are innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, but she is absolutely blind to the political realities of this."
"The legal realities are this: There are more than 1 million pages of documents … that the federal government will soon be giving to Donald Trump's lawyers," Napolitano continued. "That is an enormous amount of paperwork for them to read and analyze and examine and second guess between now and March 4.
"They begged for more time and the court said no. This will force Trump's lawyers to hire more lawyers so that human beings can read all this stuff.
"You can't just use a computer to punch in a key word. You have to read every single page of every document that the government gives you in what's called discovery before you can even begin to prepare your defense; so it's a major, major setback for Trump."
Trump's attorneys say they need more time to sort through the 12.8 million pages of government evidence; prosecutors say much of it consists of public documents, such as Trump's statements and congressional records.
Napolitano said that while there is technically a "means to appeal," appellate courts generally "do not get involved in calendar issues."
"So, barring something unforeseen, this case is going to go in March of next year," he said.
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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