The May 2024 trial in Trump’s classified documents case appears headed for a politically precarious postponement.
Judge Aileen Cannon seems to be in no hurry.
On paper, she has scheduled a trial to open next May in the case charging Donald Trump with hoarding national security secrets at Mar-a-Lago.
In reality, she has run the pretrial process at a leisurely pace that will make a postponement almost inevitable, according to experts on criminal prosecutions related to classified information.
Delaying Trump’s trial until after the November election would have a momentous implication: It might mean the trial never happens at all. If Trump wins the election and the case is still pending, he’s expected to order the Justice Department to shut it down.
Even a shorter delay would be fraught: Pushing the trial into the summer or fall could run headlong into the Republican National Convention or the heart of the general election campaign.
For now, Cannon, a Trump-appointed federal district judge in Florida, is officially sticking with the May 20 trial date she announced four months ago. She even recently denied Trump’s bid to push it back. But in a series of more technical rulings, Cannon has postponed key pretrial deadlines, and she has added further slack into the schedule simply by taking her time to resolve some fairly straightforward matters.
“It could be seen as a stealth attempt to delay the ultimate trial date without actually announcing that yet,” said Brian Greer, a former Central Intelligence Agency attorney.
“There’s pretty much no chance they could go to trial on May 20 with the current schedule,” he added.
David Aaron, a former DOJ national security prosecutor, agreed, saying a May 20 trial is unlikely “unless a lot of discipline is imposed.”
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If the trial in Trump's classified documents case is delayed until after the November election, it might mean it never happens at all.
That’s because Trump is expected to order the DOJ to shut down the case if he wins the presidency.https://t.co/8iEWlwtLm4
— POLITICO (@politico) November 22, 2023
If we can't stop Trump from bribing judges presiding over his court cases, perhaps we can ask him to use cash so we don't get stuck with Cannon on the SCOTUS for 30-40 years. https://t.co/Pw7K4KPByn
— Peter Dombrowski peterdombrowski.bsky.social (@PeterDombrowsk6) November 23, 2023
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