A federal judge in Florida denied former President Donald Trump’s request to move his trial on charges of mishandling national security information until after the 2024 election — but said she would reconsider the case schedule early next year.
In a nine-page ruling issued Friday, US District Judge Aileen Cannon set a scheduling conference between lawyers for the 77-year-old Trump and prosecutors from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office for March 1, 2024, at which she said she would re-examine the “premature” defense request.
Trump attorneys Todd Blanche and Christopher Kise had asked Cannon last month to adjourn the case “until at least mid-November 2024,” claiming that Smith’s team had not yet met its discovery obligations.
In Friday’s ruling, Cannon noted that “the quantity of discovery in this case remains exceedingly voluminous, even more so than initially thought.”
“[C]lassified discovery did not become available to Defendants in its complete form (including on substantive counts) until October 17, 2023,” the judge added. “…Defendants need more time to review the discovery in this case. This Order aims to afford that opportunity in a reasonable fashion, balanced against the public’s right to a speedy trial.”
US District Judge Aileen Cannon denied former President Donald Trump’s request to move his trial on charges of mishandling national security information until after the 2024 election.
Cannon will revisit the Florida case timeline three days before Trump is scheduled to stand trial in Washington, DC on federal charges related to his attempt to overturn the 2020 election results.
The following day, March 5, is Super Tuesday in the Republican primary race, where Trump has been the consistent front-runner.
On March 25, Trump is due in Manhattan state court on charges he falsified business records to conceal “hush money” payments made to two women during his 2016 presidential campaign.
The money was paid by Trump’s then-fixer, Michael Cohen, in order to keep the women quiet about claims they had extramarital affairs with the real estate mogul.
REUTERS“Although the Special Counsel is correct that the trajectory of these matters potentially remains in flux, the schedules as they currently stand overlap substantially with the deadlines in this case, presenting additional challenges to ensuring Defendant Trump has adequate time to prepare for trial and to assist in his defense,” Cannon wrote.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 37 counts of allegedly concealing national security material at his Mar-a-Lago estate after leaving office — and then lying to federal authorities who sought the documents.
Walt Nauta, the former president’s valet, has also pleaded not guilty to six counts as a co-conspirator after he allegedly helped Trump shift some of the boxes containing the classified documents between a bedroom, bathroom, ballroom and a basement storage room to hide them from federal authorities and the ex-president’s own lawyers.
Another employee at the Palm Beach resort, Carlos De Oliveira, pleaded not guilty to the superseding indictment, which slapped the former president with three more counts accusing him of ordering De Oliveira to wipe security camera footage.
The trial is currently set to begin May 20 of next year.
