BROOKLYN, N.Y. - The federal trial of Rep. Michael Grimm (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn) won't begin until after Election Day.

During a status conference in Brooklyn federal court on Tuesday, Judge Pamela K. Chen ruled that jury selection would begin in the case on Dec. 1.

Grimm attorney Jeffrey Neiman had sought to have the trial schedule moved even further into the future, citing the election season and negative television ads that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has begun running again Grimm.

The ads, a Neiman noted in court, feature the charges against Grimm and show snippets from the April press conference where U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch announced the 20-count indictment against Grimm.

Grimm faces charges of tax evasion, fraud and conspiracy in connection with his old Healthalicious health food restaurant.

Neiman said he was concerned that the ads could prevent Grimm from receiving a fair trial. He said that with a jury pool seeing the ads over and over "there may be prejudice."

Neiman sought to push jury selection back until sometime in January in order to give a "cooling off" period following the election.

But Judge Chen agreed with the timeline of starting jury selection on Dec. 1 offered by Assistant U.S. Attorney James Gatta.

While she said she appreciated Neiman's concerns about publicity, she said she didn't think another month delay would do much to improve matters.

She said she doubted that there were many potential jurors who "hadn't heard something about this case" already, and said that any potential prejudice issues would be dealt with during the voir dire, or jury selection, process.

Grimm and his attorneys had no comment on the proceedings as they left court.

"No comment today," Grimm said. "Thank you."

Prosecutors had originally wanted the trial to begin in October, the month before Grimm faces re-election against Democrat Domenic M. Recchia.

Under the schedule set by Judge Chen, defense motions are due to the court by Oct. 6. Neiman said that he expected to have "a handful of motions" in the case.

The government has until Oct. 27 to reply. The defense will then have until Nov. 10 to reply to that.

Judge Chen set a pre-trial status conference in the case for Nov. 20 in her courtroom.

Borough GOP chairman John Antoniello was in court for Grimm's appearance.

Antoniello told the press afterward that he thought Grimm would be re-elected and that the case would have little impact on his chances.

When asked whether the DCCC ads would prejudice jurors against Grimm, Antoniello said, "Time will tell."

Protestor Mike May stood in front of the courthouse with a sign reading "Grimminal" as the congressman and his attorneys walked out.