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A4 U.S. NEWS
Friday 11 august 2023

Prosecutors seek Jan. 2 trial date for Donald Trump in his 2020

election conspiracy case

By Alanna Durkin Richer Trump is already sched-
Associated Press uled to be in a courtroom
(AP) - Prosecutors with spe- in the heat of next year’s
cial counsel Jack Smith’s presidential primary sea-
team asked a judge on son, with a March 25 crimi-
Thursday to set a Jan. 2 trial nal trial scheduled in a
date for former President separate case in New York
Donald Trump in the case stemming from hush money
charging him with plotting payments made during the
to overturn his 2020 elec- 2016 campaign. The former
tion loss. president is scheduled to
If U.S. District Judge Tanya go to trial in May in another
Chutkan agrees with pros- case brought by Smith over
ecutors’ proposal, the case his handling of classified
against the early front-run- documents found at his
ner for the 2024 Republican Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm
presidential primary would Beach, Florida.
open right before the an- Trump faces charges in-
niversary of the Jan. 6, cluding conspiracy to de-
2021, riot at the U.S. Capi- fraud the United States for
tol, which was fueled by what prosecutors say was
Trump’s false claims about a weekslong plot to subvert
the election. the will of voters and cling
The proposed date is also Special counsel Jack Smith speaks to the media about an indictment of former President Donald to power after he lost the
just under two weeks be- Trump, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023, at an office of the Department of Justice in Washington. 2020 election to Democrat
fore the first votes are set (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) Joe Biden.
to be cast in the Republi- battle with defense attor- speedy trial an interest obstruct the certification of The indictment accuses
can presidential race, with neys who have already guaranteed by the Con- the election results, and dis- Trump of spreading lies
Iowa’s first-in-the-nation suggested they will try slow stitution and federal law in count citizens’ legitimate about election fraud he
caucuses scheduled for things down. Smith’s team all cases, but of particular votes,” prosecutors wrote. knew were false to sow dis-
Jan. 15. says the government’s significance here, where Trump’s lawyers have not trust in the democratic pro-
Prosecutors said in court case should take no longer the defendant, a former submitted their proposed cess and pressuring Vice
papers that they want the than four to six weeks. president, is charged with trial date. The judge is ex- President Mike Pence and
case to move to trial swift- “A January 2 trial date conspiring to overturn the pected to set the date dur- state election officials to
ly in Washington’s federal would vindicate the pub- legitimate results of the ing a court hearing sched- take action in a brazen at-
court, setting up a likely lic’s strong interest in a 2020 presidential election, uled for Aug. 28. tempt to cling to power.q

A Georgia teacher wants to overturn her firing for reading a book

to students about gender identity

By Jeff Amy they dislike. It comes amid Georgia’s second-larg- parents complained. teachers from “espousing
Associated Press a nationwide conserva- est school district, argue Rinderle countered that personal political beliefs.”
MARIETTA, Ga. (AP) — A tive backlash to books and Rinderle broke the school reading the book wasn’t The bill of rights guaran-
Georgia public school teaching about LGBTQ+ district’s rules against wrong, testifying that she tees that parents have “the
teacher took the stand subjects in school. teaching on controversial believed it “to be appropri- right to direct the upbring-
Thursday trying to reverse Officials in Cobb County, subjects and fired her after ate” and not a “sensitive ing and the moral or reli-
her firing after officials said topic.” She argued Thurs- gious training of his or her
she improperly read a book day that the book carries a minor child.”
on gender fluidity to her broader message for gifted Goodmark argued that a
fifth grade class. students, talking “about prohibition of “controver-
Katie Rinderle had been their many interests and sial issues” is so vague that
a teacher for 10 years feeling that they should be teachers can never be sure
when she got into trouble able to choose any of their what’s banned, saying the
in March for reading the interests and explore all of case should be dismissed.
picture book “My Shadow their interests.” The hearing took place un-
Is Purple” at Due West El- Cobb County adopted a der a Georgia law that pro-
ementary School in subur- rule barring teaching on tects teachers from unjusti-
ban Atlanta’s Cobb Coun- controversial issues in 2022, fied firing.
ty. after Georgia lawmakers A panel of three retired
The case has drawn wide earlier that year enacted school principals will make
attention as a test of what laws barring the teaching a recommendation on
public school teachers can of “divisive concepts” and whether to fire or retain
teach in class, how much a Cobb County teacher Katie Rinderle walks to the stand to creating a parents’ bill of Rinderle, but the school
school system can control testify during a hearing at the Cobb County Board of Education rights. The divisive concepts board in the 106,000-stu-
teachers and whether par- in Marietta, Ga, Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. law, although it addresses dent district will make the
ents can veto instruction (Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) teaching on race, bars final decision. q