To quote ZZ Top, he’s bad, he’s nationwide: Former U.S. President Donald Trump is facing four criminal trials in as many states in the election year of 2024, with more likely to come. The Trump Trial Tour: coming to a courthouse near you.
The biggest question, at least for the citizens of the Republic of CableTV.com, is, “Will the trials be on TV?” While the tribulations of Trump won’t be as easily accessible as the recent high-profile legal battles of Johnny Depp and Gwyneth Paltrow, you will be able to see some courtroom action. Read on for the details.
Upcoming Donald Trump criminal trials
Washington, D.C.: Federal 2020 election case
Scheduled trial date: March 4, 2024
Will it be on TV? Trump faces four federal charges in Washington, D.C., for his alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election—the operative word here is “federal.” Cameras aren’t allowed in courtrooms for federal cases, so all you’ll see on TV are artist sketches with ominous voice-overs.
New York: State business fraud case
Scheduled trial date: March 24, 2024
Will it be on TV? The state of New York doesn’t allow courtroom cameras unless the judge in the case can be convinced otherwise. He hasn’t, so this civil trial involving alleged hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels during Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign will also go untelevised.
Florida: Federal classified documents case
Scheduled trial date: May 20, 2024
Will it be on TV? Strike three. Trump’s 40-charge federal case over stacks and stacks of boxes of top-secret government documents he took from the White House and stored at his Florida Mar-a-Lago resort also won’t be on TV because federal. Even if he wanted to, Trump couldn’t even televise this case using his presidential mind powers.
Georgia: State 2020 election case
Scheduled trial date: TBD
Will it be on TV? Yes—all over it. Even though there’s no set date for the most reported-on of the Trump trials—where he needed to “find 11,780 votes” in Georgia in 2020—it’s a state case, not a federal one. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee has granted local media requests for cameras in the courtroom.
In addition to Georgia TV news coverage, the trial will also be live-streamed on the State Court of Fulton County’s YouTube channel. (Fortify those servers, Google.) Whenever it happens, expect more coverage of this Trump trial than any other courtroom event aside from 24 seasons of Law & Order: SVU.
Bill Frost has been a journalist and TV reviewer since the 4:3-aspect-ratio ’90s. His pulse-pounding prose has been featured in The Salt Lake Tribune, Inlander, Coachella Valley Independent, Las Vegas Weekly, and many other dead-tree publications (see BillFrost.tv). In addition to being a Senior Staff Writer at CableTV.com, Bill is a syndicated streaming TV columnist forSalt Lake City Weekly and other alternative weeklies, and host/producer of TV Tan Podcast. By night, Bill cranks a Flying V with his band at the bar.
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