US proposes January start for Trump election trial

FILE PHOTO: Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, U.S., July 29, 2023. REUTERS/Lindsay DeDario/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. prosecutors on Thursday asked a federal judge to begin former President Donald Trump's trial on charges of trying to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden on Jan. 2, 2024.

That date would have the trial get under way just two weeks before the first votes are cast in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, a race in which Trump is the front-runner.