Judges Risk 'Disaster' in Trump Trials: Ex-Prosecutor

Former prosecutor and legal expert Randall Eliason has urged the judiciary "to take some extraordinary steps" to speed up Donald Trump's criminal trials or risk a "disaster for the rule of law."

The former president is the overwhelming favorite to win the GOP nomination next year, consistently leading other candidates in the polls by significant margins. And polls about a hypothetical rematch with President Joe Biden in the general election show the two neck and neck.

At the same time, Trump is facing 91 criminal charges in four different cases at the state and federal levels, two of which concern his alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, which he lost to Biden. The trial date for his federal election interference case, brought by the Department of Justice and its special counsel Jack Smith, is set for March 4, in the heart of primary season.

Eliason, the former chief of the fraud and public corruption section at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, strongly urges the judicial system to take "extraordinary steps" to make sure that Trump's trials move along as fast as possible to avoid a situation where his alleged crimes have not been litigated by Election Day, according to a piece published Tuesday in The New York Times.

This, he warns, would result in an "unthinkable" circumstance in which "voters will go to the polls without knowing whether one of the candidates in the current election is criminally responsible for trying to overturn the last one and subvert the will of the voters."

Newsweek reached out to Trump's office via email for comment.

Recent polls have suggested that the results of Trump's ongoing criminal trials could have an immense impact on voters' choice next year. A New York Times/Siena College poll published earlier this month found that Trump was leading Biden in five out of the six most crucial swing states. The survey also found that in a hypothetical situation where Trump was found guilty in any of the criminal trials, all six states swung to Biden.

Eliason said that the federal election interference case has the best shot at going to trial before Election Day and praised Judge Tanya Chutkan for "doing an admirable job of keeping it on track." However, he also warned that "expected pretrial appeals could push the trial date past the November election." He characterized Trump's preferred legal tactic as trying to delay his trials as much as possible in the hope that he can win the next election and have the charges dismissed.

"Having an election with Mr. Trump on the ballot and his criminal liability for Jan. 6 unresolved could spell disaster for the rule of law," Eliason wrote.

"It's also completely avoidable if the courts—and in particular, the judges who control the schedule—are willing to do what's necessary: put the resolution of these [pretrial] motions on a fast track to ensure the case can go to trial as scheduled."