WASHINGTON – A federal judge in Florida set May 20, 2024, as the start date for former President Donald Trump’s trial for allegedly mishandling classified documents and obstructing justice — throwing a courtroom drama right into the middle of the presidential campaign.

US District Judge Aileen Cannon turned aside prosecutors’ attempt to start the trial on Dec. 11, writing Friday that “the interests of justice served by this continuance outweigh the best interest of the public and Defendants in a speedy trial.”

Trump, 77, and co-defendant Walt Nauta had lobbied the court to delay the trial indefinitely, with his lawyers arguing that the 45th president would be denied a fair proceeding if it occurred before Election Day.

But prosecutors working for special counsel Jack Smith argued that the trial should be scheduled as soon as possible, noting in a letter to Cannon last week that “there is no basis in law or fact for proceeding in such an indeterminate and open-ended fashion, and the defendants provide none.”

“The court rejects defendants’ request to withhold setting of a schedule now; the court deems it necessary to manage this proceeding through important stages of discovery … and trial, and does not see a sufficient basis on this record to postpone the entry of a scheduling order,” Cannon wrote Friday.

Though the judge did not agree with Trump’s argument to delay the trial until after the election, his presidential campaign called Cannon’s decision to allot Trump’s attorneys more time to prepare for trial “a major setback” for prosecutors.

“The extensive schedule allows President Trump and his legal team to continue fighting this empty hoax,” the campaign said in a statement. “… Crooked Joe [Biden] will fail and President Trump will win back the White House for the American people.”

In setting a trial date almost exactly 10 months in advance, Cannon cited the massive amount of material attorneys from both sides must sift through before the case heads to a jury.

“By conservative estimates, the amount of discovery, in this case, is voluminous and likely to
increase in the normal course as trial approaches,” she wrote, adding that the evidence includes “more than 1.1 million pages of non-classified discovery produced thus far, at least nine months of camera footage, at least 1,545 pages of classified discovery ready to be produced, plus additional content from electronic devices and other sources yet to be turned over.”

Much of the discovery includes classified documents that will take additional time to review because they must be handled under the rules of the federal Classified Information Procedures Act, which require more legal precautions and typically take more time to be submitted as evidence than in a typical case.

While the government partially agreed with Trump’s defense that the trial should be pushed back from an initial Aug. 14 date set by Cannon, they had insisted on bringing the case before the end of the year.

“The government’s proposed schedule is atypically accelerated and inconsistent with ensuring a fair trial,” Cannon said. “As it stands, the government’s timeline spans less than six months from the first discovery production (June 21, 2023) to trial in a CIPA case.”

Nauta’s attorneys had also argued that the valet’s case should be postponed until after November 2024 because his work as Trump’s aide “requires him to accompany President Trump during most campaign trips around the country.”

Cannon rejected the arguments, adding that she had to take “due account of the public’s interest in a speedy trial and the rights of the parties.”

“Defendants identify various additional factors the Court deems unnecessary to resolution of the [matter,] most principally the likelihood of insurmountable prejudice in jury selection stemming from publicity about the 2024 Presidential Election,” the judge wrote.

Trump remains the frontrunner for the Republican nomination for president and has been since launching his campaign last fall.

The May trial date comes at the tail end of the GOP primary calendar and fewer than two months before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where the party will select its official nominee for the presidency.

It will also fall about two months after the three-time presidential candidate stands trial in Manhattan District Court on charges related to hush-money payments to women he reportedly had sex with while married to wife Melania.

In that case, he faces a 34-count indictment charging him with falsifying business records related to “catch-and-kill” payments made to former porn star Stormy Daniels and ex-playboy model Karen McDougal in the lead-up to the 2016 election in effort to buy their silence over their affair claims with the then-presidential candidate.

Trump could also face another indictment soon, revealing on Tuesday that his attorneys informed him he is a target of special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the events surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot — and that he is prepared for “an Arrest and Indictment” in the case.

The former president decried the latest possible indictment on social media this week, calling all the cases against him a “WITCH HUNT” and “ELECTION INTERFERENCE” in his bid for a rematch against President Biden.