Federal judge sets Trump’s classified documents trial to start May 20, 2024
- Federal Judge Aileen Cannon rebuffed the ex-president’s demands to delay the trial until after his 2024 election campaign as ‘unnecessary’ to her decision
- Trump also faces cases involving his business, allegations of defamation and hush money payments to an adult film star, as well as probes related 2020 election
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The federal judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s trial on his mishandling of classified documents case has set a trial date for May 20, rejecting the Justice Department’s bid to try the case in December as well as the former president’s request for a delay until after the 2024 election.
Florida District Judge Aileen Cannon on Friday set the date following a closely watched pre-trial hearing on July 18. While prosecutors won’t be able to try the case this year, Cannon’s move is a setback for Trump, who had asked her to set no trial date as he navigates various trials, pending criminal probes and his campaign.
The ruling places Trump’s criminal trial less than six months ahead of the November 2024 US presidential election. The 77-year-old is the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination and the trial will be held at the height of the primary campaign to select the party’s flag-bearer for the election.
Cannon began her order by rebuffing Trump’s request to delay setting a firm schedule, writing that she found it “necessary” to keep the rest of the case on track. She said that Trump’s arguments in favour of delay rooted in the demands of his 2024 campaign were “unnecessary” to her decision.
But she wrote that the government’s December proposal was “atypically accelerated and inconsistent with ensuring a fair trial,” given the amount of evidence and complications related to the use of classified material.
The trial in Florida is one of several legal obligations piling up on Trump’s schedule going into the 2024 election cycle, including cases involving his business, allegations of defamation and hush money payments to an adult film star years ago. Trump is also the target of federal and state criminal probes related to efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
The trial date falls after nearly all the primaries have been completed, but before an official Republican presidential nominee is named at the convention in July. If Trump won enough of those primaries, he could be the presumptive Republicans presidential nominee when his trial begins.
Special counsel Jack Smith’s office and the defence teams for Trump and his co-defendant Waltine “Walt” Nauta had all agreed that Cannon’s original plan to hold the trial on August 14 was far too soon because they said they needed more time to prepare. But they sparred over what the judge should order instead.
Federal prosecutors working for Smith at a hearing on Tuesday had asked Cannon to schedule the trial for December, while Trump’s lawyers said there was no need to set a date yet.
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If the date holds, it would follow close on the heels of a separate New York trial for Trump on dozens of state charges of falsifying business records. It also means the trial will not start until deep into the presidential nominating calendar and probably well after the Republican nominee is clear – though before that person is officially nominated at the Republican National Convention.
Trump could yet face additional trials in the coming year. He revealed this week that he had received a letter informing him that he was a target of a separate Justice Department investigation into efforts to undo the 2020 presidential election, and prosecutors in Georgia plan to announce charging decisions within weeks in an investigation into attempts by Trump and his allies to subvert the vote there.
