Of the four cases against Donald Trump, the one largely seen as the strongest is in Florida and sees the former president is accused of mishandling classified documents. It is a federal case in which the government has amassed a huge amount of evidence.
However, the judge in the case, Aileen Cannon, is a Trump appointee who has shown a propensity to rule in his favor in the past. And now, per the Washington Post, that judge is talking about delaying the trial.
Per the Post, Judge Cannon said during a hearing Wednesday that the other criminal cases against Trump may necessitate a pushing back of the case’s timeline.
As of now, per Axios, the Florida trial is scheduled to begin on May 20. Trump’s team has attempted to push the trial past the election in 2024.
“I’m having a hard time seeing how this work can be accomplished in this compressed time frame,” Cannon said in court. The comments came during a hearing when the government called for the case to keep its current schedule, while Trump’s attorneys say they want it pushed back further.
Todd Blanche, who represents Trump, claimed in court that the evidence in the case is “voluminous,” and that Trump’s legal team will need more time than currently scheduled to review it.
The special counsel’s office, meanwhile, accused Trump’s attorneys of seeking to manipulate the scheduling, both in that case and his other federal case, in Washington.
“As the government argued to the court yesterday, the trial date in the District of Columbia case should not be a determinative factor in the court’s decision whether to modify the dates in this manner,” the filing said.
“Defendant Trump’s actions in the hours following the hearing … confirm his overriding interest in delaying both trials at any cost. This Court should [not] allow itself to be manipulated in this fashion,” the Justice Department said in a filing Thursday, as reported by CNN.
The trial in Trump’s other federal criminal case, in Washington, is set to begin next March. His New York case is scheduled to start in late March. Trump does not yet have a trial date set in the Georgia RICO case. A civil fraud trial is currently underway, as are cases in which citizens and groups are seeking to remove Trump from office under the 14th Amendment.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to every criminal count and denied engaging in any wrongdoing whatsoever in every one of the civil and criminal cases.
Another trial, in a lawsuit against Trump by E. Jean Carroll, is also set for next January, as is a separate lawsuit accusing Trump of involvement with a pyramid scheme. These trials will likely have Trump traveling back and forth, for much of the spring, between the campaign trail and various courtrooms.
Should Trump get elected president again, he would likely gain the power to drop any pending federal charges against him, and also possibly grant himself a pardon. However, trials prior to the election, which would put allegations against Trump in the news every day for months, could serve to prevent Trump from gaining another term as president. And of course, there is always the possibility that he could be convicted of a crime.
“If Trump is the GOP nominee next year, he essentially could be campaigning for his freedom — an unprecedented scenario in the United States. Winning the presidency would give him a chance to install sympathetic Justice Department officials, or even try to pardon himself if he’s convicted,” Axios reported back in June.
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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. Stephen has authored thousands of articles over the years that focus on politics, technology, and the economy for over a decade. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
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