Donald Trump returns to court for possible delay in secret documents case

Image source: Reuters

A ruling by Judge Eileen Cannon, who was appointed by Donald Trump himself, has hinted at a possible delay in his criminal trial on charges of mishandling classified documents. The trial was originally scheduled to begin in May, but its start has been delayed by a fight over the right of Trump's lawyers to review evidence. Prosecutors are pushing for the trial to begin July 8, while Trump would prefer a date after the election or in August. However, on Friday, the judge did not set an exact date for the trial. Instead, Judge Eileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, haggled with both sides during a three-hour session about the preliminary procedures and hearings needed to move the case to trial.

"The only thing the parties agree on is that the case can be tried over the summer," said Jay Bratt, Deputy Special Prosecutor Jack Smith, the deputy special prosecutor leading the investigation.

Todd Blanch, the former president's attorney, argued that the "simple solution" is to start the trial in late November, after the 2024 election, to avoid "approaching something like a mad rush." He pointed to President Trump's upcoming trial in New York, set for March 25, over allegations related to payments to adult actress Stormy Daniels. Blanche is also serving as Trump's defense attorney in the case.

Judge Cannon said the tentative timeline proposed by the government was "unrealistic" and suggested some flexibility in the trial's time schedule.

Trump, who sat silently next to his lawyers, said he would plead not guilty to 40 indictments in the case.

The former president is expected to become the Republican Party's unofficial nominee later this month and has accused the four criminal cases he faces this year of being a politically motivated witch hunt by Democrats aimed at damaging his re-election prospects. He is fighting, with some success, to put aside every case against him. If he returns to the presidency, he can either stop, weaken, or further delay the process of prosecuting him.

On Thursday, his lawyers in the Florida case said in a court document, "Because he is the leading candidate in the 2024 election, President Trump firmly asserts that a fair trial cannot be held this year under the Constitution." They argue that a trial that takes place before the election would violate "the Sixth Amendment, which guarantees his right to be present and participate in these proceedings," as well as his "First Amendment right, which he shares with the American people, to engage in campaign speech."

Some legal experts have accused Judge Cannon of slowing down the pretrial process, including delaying important deadlines. She first hinted at a delay in the original schedule last November, citing the Trump team's complaint about the time needed to review the "unusually large volume of unclassified and classified documents" in the case. The judge said the case includes 1.3 million pages of unclassified documents, 5,500 pages of classified documents and 60 terabytes of closed-circuit television footage.