U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon rejected former United States President Donald Trump's request to delay his trial in the classified documents case, keeping the May schedule.
Despite the decision, Cannon's nine-page order noted that she would revisit the trial schedule next year in March. This would be after Trump and prosecutors working for special counsel Jack Smith have more time to hash out complicated disputes over the former president and his co-defendants' access to the reams of classified material that are at the heart of the case.
Judge Rejects Trump's Request To Reschedule Trial
The judge, who is a Trump nominee and appointed in 2020, acknowledged the challenges posed by what was called an "unusually high volume" of evidence. This is true given the former president's need to prepare for other overlapping criminal cases.
While Cannon conceded the evolving and unforeseen circumstances that exist in the case, she concurred with Smith's team that the law still favors the public's right to a speedy trial. The judge added that she was not persuaded to impose a delay on the trial for now, as per Politico.
The judge instead extended a handful of interim pretrial deadlines and set a Mar. 1 hearing to revisit the viability of the current trial date. Cannon noted that the former president is also facing criminal proceedings in New York and Washington, D.C., adding to the complexity of his ability to prepare for the classified documents trial.
In response to the decision, the Republican businessman's legal team welcomed the news of revisiting the potential rescheduling of the trial. Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said that they look forward to the conference that Cannon set for March. He also criticized the Biden administration's efforts to allegedly deny the former president's constitutional rights to prepare for trial.
Cheung added that it was clear that it was in the best interest of justice for Trump to have enough time to prepare and file motions. This comes as he continues to work to defeat the alleged hoaxes and marches back to the White House.
Donald Trump's Legal Challenges
The classified documents case has been a controversial topic for the former president as it has loomed over his candidacy. This is particularly true because of the questions that it has raised, with substantial known witnesses and even audio evidence about how casually Trump treated national security information after his presidency, according to CNN.
The former president has repeatedly pushed to move this federal criminal trial and others past the November 2024 presidential election. He argued that he and his lawyers would have too busy schedules.
The entire case centers around the former president allegedly illegally retaining classified documents at his Palm Beach estate, Mar-a-Lago. He is also accused of hiding said records from government investigators who were trying to seek the documents and return them to their rightful place.
Trump's other legal hurdles include being accused of planning to overturn the 2020 presidential election that he lost to Joe Biden. In Georgia, the Republican businessman is accused of trying to subvert that state's vote, said Yahoo News.
