The latest indictment against former President Donald Trump joins a major backlog of cases.
Trump’s case is one of more than 6,000 pending criminal cases in the D.C. federal district court.
Trump may be the best known, but he’s far from the first defendant charged in connection with crimes related to the 2020 election. More than 1,069 people have been charged with crimes related to Jan. 6, which the indictment says Trump’s actions helped fuel.
“This is the case of the century,” former prosecutor Glenn Kirschner said. “Indeed, I would say this is the case of our nation's history. So, no, this is not just any other case.”
D.C.’s federal courthouse reports the hundreds of cases related to the Capitol riot are taking a toll. It reports the court is taking five months longer to handle case than before Jan. 6 – a 36% increase in time. Prosecutors say there could be hundreds more Jan. 6 cases yet to be filed.
“This is so unique,” Kirschner said. “This courthouse is situated virtually in the shadow of the crime scene, one of the crime scenes, the U.S. Capitol.
“This crime is unusual,” he said. “It permeates everything in and around Washington, D.C.”
During that march to the Capitol on Jan. 6, insurrectionists walked just steps away from the courthouse where Trump will be tried.
Even though D.C. voted overwhelmingly for President Joe Biden, legal experts told the I-Team they think Trump can get a fair trial.
“I have more faith in juries than some do,” George Washington University law professor Paul Schiff Berman said.
“It is true that the District of Columbia voted for President Biden, but that's different from convicting President Trump, and I would expect people to take it very seriously,” he said.
Trump said it would be “impossible” to get a fair trial in D.C. in a Truth Social post and called for it to be moved to an “impartial” venue such as West Virginia.
Several Jan. 6 defendants have raised the idea of a trial outside of D.C. and away from where the conduct allegedly occurred. None has convinced a D.C. judge that D.C. jurors can’t fairly and impartially decide these cases.
Reported by Ted Oberg, produced by Rick Yarborough, and shot and edited by Evan Carr.
