Trump Trial Schedule Shift Isn't Out of the Question, Alvin Bragg Suggests

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has signaled that he is ready to set aside former President Donald Trump's trial date in New York to make way for a possible trial related to Special Counsel Jack Smith's January 6 investigation.

Trump, the leading GOP candidate in the 2024 presidential election race who claims that all of the charges against him are "election interference" and a "witch hunt," is set to face trial March 25 on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in New York. The ex-president's federal trial on 40 felony counts related to his post-presidency retention of classified documents is set to take place in May.

While Trump has yet to be charged in the January 6 investigation, his legal team met with Department of Justice officials this week amid mounting speculation that an indictment could be handed down soon. Charges stemming from the investigation of attempts to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss in Georgia could also be imminent.

During a WNYC radio interview on Friday, Bragg suggested that his office would "take a broad look at what justice requires" and likely support moving the New York trial date "if and when" another prosecution of the former president moves forward, while stressing that he does not personally have the power to change the trial date.

"There may be other cases coming," Bragg said. "If and when that happens, we'll see what happens to the schedule. We have a firm trial date, our judge has been clear about that. But based upon experience—I've been a federal prosecutor, a state prosecutor and now obviously local—in matters like this, judges will confer."

"I take a very broad lens on justice," he continued. "We'll obviously follow the directives of our court, but won't sit on ceremony in terms of what was charged first ... Ultimately the judges set the trial schedule. I will say that, as a federal prosecutor, as a state prosecutor, I have had times where you're doing schedule coordination."

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

On Thursday, three additional felony charges were added to the 37 counts originally handed to the ex-president in the classified-documents case. Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann argued that the superseding indictment contained "devastating proof" that Trump is guilty of obstruction due to the indictment's allegation of attempts to destroy security camera footage.

While a federal indictment of Trump on charges related to January 6 could be coming soon, the ex-president's indictment on charges in Georgia seems just as likely. Police have recently been placing security barricades around the Fulton County Courthouse in anticipation of charges being filed against the former president at any moment.

Smith's January 6 investigation also focuses on attempts to overturn Trump's loss in the 2020 election, which the ex-president continues to falsely claim was "stolen" from him. Alleged schemes to flip the contest include submitting to the Electoral College fake electors who were loyal to Trump in battleground states that were narrowly won by President Joe Biden.