Judge Rejects Initial Request From Trump To Delay Documents Trial Until After 2024 Election
Former President Donald Trump’s trial over his alleged mishandling of classified documents will not be bumped past the 2024 presidential election, according to a new ruling from Judge Aileen Cannon.
Trump previously requested that the trial be moved past November 5, 2024, Election Day, in order to give his lawyers more time to review evidence. Trump, the current frontrunner for the Republican nomination, has climbed in front of President Joe Biden in several recent polls in key swing states.
The trial of Trump, who is accused of mishandling sensitive classified documents, is set to begin on May 20, 2024. A scheduling hearing is set for March 1, and Cannon could move the start of the trial then.
“President Trump is fighting Crooked Joe Biden, Deranged Jack Smith, and radical Democrats as a whole on multiple fronts. We look forward to the conference set by Judge Cannon for next March, where future scheduling matters, including a potential trial date will be discussed. The concerted effort by the Biden Administration to deny President Trump’s constitutional rights to prepare for trial reveal their corrupt motives. It is clearly in the best interest of Justice for President Trump to have adequate time to prepare and file motions, as he works to defeat these hoaxes and marches back to the White House,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement in response to Cannon’s decision.
Lawyers for Trump previously made the case that his team had not been given sufficient access to review evidence in a filing made in early October asking to postpone the trial start date. The trial will take place in Fort Pierce, Florida.
“The demands of the Special Counsel’s Office must give way to the constitutional rights of the defendants and the interests of judicial economy,” a filing from lawyers Christopher Kise and Todd Blanche said. Trump’s team also said that insufficient accommodations had been made for them and the president to view the evidence.
Trump is accused of storing information regarding defense and weapons capabilities of both the United States and foreign countries; United States nuclear programs; potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to military attack; and plans for possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack.
Mar-a-Lago resort property manager Carlos De Oliveira and Trump aide Walt Nauta are also facing charges stemming from the document investigation. All three have pled not guilty.
The documents trial is just one of the legal problems Trump faces, with upcoming cases in New York, Washington, D.C., and Georgia.
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