Donald Trump does not want a speedy trial: The former president appears to be seeking a delay in his criminal trial, following his indictment in the federal documents case.
Donald Trump: Making a Mistake?
The Sixth Amendment guarantees the right to a fair and speedy trial. But when it comes to his indictment for mishandling of classified documents, former President Donald Trump does not appear so interested in the “speedy” part.
According to CNBC, Trump’s attorneys have asked the court to “hold off on setting a date” for a trial in the case. Both the ex-president and his co-defendant Walt Nauta say that it would be “challenging” to prepare for a trial ahead of the 2024 election. A date of January 14, 2024, has been set for the Iowa caucuses.
Originally, the trial date in the documents case had been set for August 14, with further talk that the trial could begin in September, but delays were likely. Indeed, the Department of Justice is now calling for the trial to start in December, just before the voting gets underway in January.
Nauta, Trump’s co-defendant, only appeared in court to plead not guilty last week, after multiple delays.
“There is simply no question any trial of this action during the pendency of a Presidential election will impact both the outcome of that election and, importantly, the ability of the Defendants to obtain a fair trial,” Trump’s attorneys said this week in a pleading.
Trump’s attorneys also brought up the “intersection” between Presidential Records Act and the charges against him, which they say have “never been addressed by any court.” This appears to come from the push, from some of the fringes of Trump supporters, that the Presidential Records Act allows a president to take whatever documents he wants, which is very much not true.
Elie Honig, the former federal prosecutor, and CNN contributor, appeared on CNN Monday to discuss the reasons for the delays.
“Some of this could play to Donald Trump’s advantage, because his best defense here, his best strategy is delay,” Honig said on CNN. “We will not try three or four cases between now and the election. It’s not even 100 percent certain that we’ll try one of them.”
He also suggested that the prosecutors “get together” and prioritize which trials should go first, with the expert stating that the January 6 case is “the most important,” followed by the documents case, followed by the New York state case. However, the latter case, involving what prosecutors call document falsification, is the only one with a solid trial date, in March and April of 2024.
“Delay is the strategy here,” Honig said of both Trump and Nauta, which he likened to “putting a toddler to bed.”
Trump and his allies are further facing potential charges related to his attempts to overturn the 2020 election. Per Honig, this leads to a potential logistical nightmare of several different trials in a short amount of time.
Of course, should the trial be delayed until after the election, it would raise the possibility that Trump could assume the presidency again, and presumably direct his Justice Department to drop the charges against him. But a pending indictment hanging over Trump may very well hurt his chances of election.
Honig added that of the state cases, in New York and the election interference case in Georgia, there is no way that state prosecutors would be able to hold a criminal trial of a sitting president, should Trump win the 2024 election.
Meanwhile, a poll taken last week shows that big majorities of Americans would like to see Trump stand trial before the election.
According to that Politico/Ipsos poll, “more than half of all Americans think former President Donald Trump should head to trial ahead of both the 2024 Republican primaries and the 2024 presidential election.” More than 86 percent of Democrats said yes, as did 46 percent of Republicans.
Expertise and Experience: Stephen Silver is a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
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