Donald Trump (public domain)Judge Aileen M. Cannon, a Trump appointee, has rejected Donald J. Trump’s request to delay the trial for his classified documents charges until after the election but scheduled the court date for May 2024, months past the Justice Department’s request to begin in December.
The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s prosecution on charges of illegally retaining dozens of classified documents set a trial date for May 2024. https://t.co/uVYp7FGKNy pic.twitter.com/ymKjHMP54M
— The New York Times (@nytimes) July 21, 2023
From the New York Times:
In her order, Judge Aileen M. Cannon said the trial was to be held in her home courthouse in Fort Pierce, Fla., a coastal city two-and-a-half hours north of Miami that will draw its jury pool from several counties that Mr. Trump won handily in his two previous presidential campaigns.
Mr. Trump’s advisers have been blunt that winning the presidency is how he hopes to beat the legal charges he is facing, and he has adopted a strategy of the delaying the trial, which is expected to take several weeks, for as long as possible.
Special Prosecutor Jack Smith filed a 38-count indictment against Trump last month charging him with illegally possessing at least 31 documents containing sensitive national security information.
Read more at the New York Times.
BREAKING: May 20, 2024, trial date set in Trump classified documents case. Judge Cannon's order means DOJ won't get to try the case this year as they'd hoped, but it's a significant setback for Trump, who was angling for a postelection delay. More to come.https://t.co/okxMDGrU9w pic.twitter.com/iP13baqfoK
— Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) July 21, 2023