Judge Sets Trial Date In Trump Classified Documents Case

A federal judge has set May 20, 2024 as the trial date for former President Donald Trump, who has been charged with illegally retaining hundreds of classified documents.

The date was set U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon in Florida on Friday. It is viewed as a compromise between a request from prosecutor, who aimed for a December trial, and defense attorneys, who wanted to put if off until after the 2024 presidential election.

Assuming the date stands, it will come immediately after a trial in New York in which Trump is facing state charges for falsifying business records in relation to alleged hush money paid to a porn actor.

Mostly, the May date means the trial would not begin until well into the presidential nominating calendar. And perhaps after the Republication nomination becomes evident.

In announcing the decision, Cannon wrote that the Justice Department’s request for a December date “is atypically accelerated and inconsistent with ensuring a fair trial.”

She added that the court “finds that the interests of justice served by this continuance outweigh the best interest of the public and Defendants in a speedy trial.”

Meanwhile, Trump’s campaign called the decision “a major setback to the DOJ’s crusade to deny President Trump a fair legal process. The extensive schedule allows President Trump and his legal team to continue fighting this empty hoax.”

That said, Trump has indicated he could face additional trials in the coming year. For instance, the former president revealed he’s the focus of a separate Justice Department investigation into alleged efforts to undo results from the 2020 election — meaning more charges could be on the way.

Attorney John Lauro told Fox News that prosecutors seemed to accuse Trump of “some kind of effort to obstruct” the Jan. 6, 2021 counting of state electoral votes and “whether or not President Trump intimidated anyone or ballot stuffed.” Lauro, Trump’s lawyer in the investigation, said the former president did “absolutely nothing wrong” and would therefore not appear before a grand jury.

“He’s done nothing criminal,” Lauro said. “And he’s made his case that he was entitled to take these positions as president of the United States. When he saw all these election discrepancies and irregularities going on, he did what any president was required to do because he took an oath to do exactly that.” Multiple judges appointed by Trump and Trump’s own attorney general said there was no evidence of widespread fraud that could have affected the outcome of the election.”

The May trial before Cannon would take place in a Fort Pierce, Florida, federal courthouse.