Former US president Donald Trump has reacted angrily to a court allocating 4 March next year for his federal election conspiracy trial, complaining that the timing amounted to "election interference".
Mr Trump, who is accused of leading a criminal conspiracy to overturn his 2020 defeat, posted that prosecutors had deliberately slow-walked their investigation "to bring it smack in the middle of Crooked Joe Biden's Political Opponent's campaign against him. Election Interference!"
A federal judge in Washington has said former Mr Trump will have to juggle a pending criminal trial with his 2024 re-election campaign as she set 4 March 2024 as its start date.
US District Judge Tanya Chutkan set the date for the case charging Mr Trump with trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat, one of four criminal prosecutions the former president faces.
Special Counsel Jack Smith had proposed starting the trial on 2 January 2024, 11 months before election day. Mr Trump's lawyers have asked Judge Chutkan to delay the trial until April 2026.
The judge said neither of those dates were acceptable.
"The public has a right to a prompt and efficient resolution of this matter," Judge Chutkan said.
Earlier she had said that Mr Trump would have to "make the trial date work, regardless of his schedule."
Mr Trump did not attend Monday's hearing, but later posted on his social media platform Truth saying he would appeal the date.
The former president has portrayed all four criminal prosecutions as politically motivated attempts to stop him from returning to power.
He has pleaded not guilty in three of those cases and is due in a Georgia court on 6 September to enter a plea in the fourth case, according to a court filing issued yesterday.
He did not mention further details of how or when the appeal will be made and called the probe politically motivated.
Mr Trump has previously lashed out at Judge Chutkan, saying, without evidence, that she is biased against him.
His attorneys say they need time to sort through the government's evidence, but prosecutors say much of that consists of public materials, such as Trump's statements and congressional records.
They said that they have handed over most of the evidence in the case, which totals about 12.8 million pages.
The four upcoming criminal trials pose major logistical challenges for Mr Trump as he campaigns for a return to the White House.
In Georgia, where Mr Trump faces racketeering and other state charges related to his alleged efforts to overturn his 2020 defeat, District Attorney Fani Willis had asked the court to set a 4 March 2024 date.
One of his 18 co-defendants in that case, his former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, is pressing to move his trial to federal court, where he might face a more sympathetic jury.
Mr Trump is already set to be on trial in New York on 25 March 2024, on separate state charges of concealing a hush money payment to an adult film star.
He is also due to go to trial in Florida on 20 May 2024 on federal charges also brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith alleging he illegally retained classified records after leaving the White House and tried to obstruct justice.
Yesterday marked the second time that Mr Trump's lawyers appear before Judge Chutkan to discuss pre-trial logistics.
At the last hearing, the judge warned that Mr Trump should stop posting inflammatory statements online about witnesses or others involved in the case.
