Donald Trump has found a new place for his 2024 campaign: The courthouse
WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump is steadily preparing to campaign for the White House in 2024 from the most unique set of venues in U.S. political history: courthouses.
Trump addressed reporters from a New York City courthouse on Tuesday, as he faces a civil trial where lawyers are trying to to determine how much Trump and his companies will be penalized for fraud.
As he does on the actual campaign trail, Trump claimed the that the indictments against him are all "rigged."
Facing as many as four criminal cases in the next election year, all requiring his presence in court, Trump and aides have served notice that he will try to turn the trials against him into campaign talking points ? on site if necessary.
'A big platform'
Trump does not have to attend the civil trial in New York, but as he has been leaving the courtroom in recent weeks, he has started to deliver mini-speeches, attacking President Joe Biden, Democrats and various law enforcement officials, blaming them for all of his legal problems.
In previous appearances at the courthouse, Trump has also taken campaign-style questions from reporters, such as his discussing his endorsement of U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, to be speaker of the House.
Some Republicans are aghast at the idea that the party could, conceivably, nominate a convicted felon for the presidency. So far, however, his criminal indictments and civil cases appear to have benefitted Trump politically ? at least among Republican voters. Independent voters may be a different story.
On the real campaign trail, such as in Iowa on Monday, Trump has made bashing the criminal cases a regular feature of his stump speech. During a Monday appearance in Iowa, Trump noted that politicians in previous times would have simply left public life.
Not him.
"With me, I have a big platform," Trump told Iowa supporters. "So I can explain things."
Gag orders
As he campaigns, Trump has gone beyond talking about the charges against him to mount evidence-free attacks on the legal proceedings themselves.
On Tuesday, after motorcading to the courthouse in lower Manhattan, the former president protested all the cases against him, claiming he is being "railroaded" because he is a leading presidential campaign.
But Trump also criticized the new gag order placed on him Monday by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan. Although Trump accused the judge of trying to silence him, the gag order is limited and applies only to the federal case in which he is charged with trying to steal the 2020 election from Biden.
The order only restricts him from direct personal attacks on individuals by name, like Chutkan, Special Counsel Jack Smith or other court personnel.
Trump can still talk about the 2020 election prosecution and the other cases in general, and he will no doubt continue to do, including during appearances at courthouses.
Criminal trials and campaign schedules
By the time any of Trump's criminal trials roll around, he may already have wrapped up the Republican presidential nomination.
But both his civil and criminal trials are expected to intersect with crucial campaign dates over and over again during the 2024 election season.
Trump's next scheduled trial is a civil case: A second defamation claim brought by E. Jean Carroll, the writer who won a $5 million judgement after a jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse during an incident in the mid-1990s.
The next trial in Carroll's case against Trump is scheduled to start on Jan. 15 - the same day the Iowa caucuses begin the Republican presidential nomination process.
After the Iowa caucuses, there will be delegate contests in New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. The South Carolina primary is scheduled for Feb. 24, a little more than a week before jury selection is scheduled to begin in the federal 2020 election case against Trump.
Chutkan has also set a trial date of March 4, the day before voters in more than a dozen states participate in Super Tuesday primaries.
During a Monday hearing on the gag order, Chutkan referenced Trump's ongoing presidential campaign, saying "this trial will not yield to the election cycle."
And one of the two state cases against Trump is scheduled to start in late March. A New York state grand jury indicted Trump on campaign finance violation charges involving hush money payments to a former mistress to keep her quiet during the 2016 election season.
Trump tries to delay trials
None of these court dates are set in stone. Trump and his attorneys are seeking to delay all of the criminal trials until after Election Day ? Nov. 5 of 2024 ? a request he often echoes on the campaign trial.
In the Florida case alleging Trump retained classified documents after leaving the White House, his lawyers asked U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to postpone the trial until after the election. Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith opposed the motion to delay beyond the tentative May 20 trial date. Cannon's decision is pending.
In the meantime, Trump will stump for president, from battleground states to federal courthouses in Washington, D.C., New York, Atlanta, and Florida.
So far, the indictments have helped Trump politically, Republicans said. This is particularly true with conservatives who agree with him that the prosecutions are politically motivated, although there is no evidence that state or federal officials have tried to target Trump's reelection bid.
Some of these Republicans also believe that Trump's trials will drain his support among independent voters - the kind of people who decide nationwide general elections.
"It solidifies his position with the primary vote," said Fergus Cullen, former state chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party. "And hurts his electability in the general election."
Contributing: Bart Jansen, USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Donald Trump finds new place for 2024 campaign: The courthouse
