Judge Cannon schedules Trump’s classified documents trial for May 2024
U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon heard arguments from both sides on July 18, and said she would issue her decision promptly. On Friday, she set the case for jury trial in the Fort Pierce Division of the U.S. District Court in Southern Florida during the two-week period that begins May 20, 2024.
Trump is the early front-runner for the 2024 Republican nomination, which means any trial that takes place before the election will likely resonate across the campaign trail. Postponing the proceedings until after the election, meanwhile, raised the possibility that if Trump or another Republican won, they could push the Justice Department to drop the charges.
Trump and a longtime aide, Waltine “Walt” Nauta, were charged last month in a 38-count indictment that accused the former president of improperly retaining 31 classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida residence and private club. Prosecutors alleged that Trump enlisted Nauta to help him keep some highly classified materials in spite of the government’s efforts to have them returned.
Both men pleaded not guilty during separate court appearances in Miami. Trump has assailed this case and other investigations scrutinizing him as politically motivated.
The case was randomly assigned to Cannon, who Trump appointed to the bench in 2020. Cannon is a federal judge in Fort Pierce, Fla., and she drew intense scrutiny for a controversial ruling last year — sought by Trump — allowing an outside review of the documents the FBI seized from his Florida residence. An appeals court panel unanimously ruled she was wrong.
Overseeing this trial puts Cannon in an extraordinary spotlight, and her every move is likely to be dissected as observers watch to see if she appears to be favoring either side. In her role, Cannon can have a significant impact on the case, including by ruling on what evidence can be included and deciding on any potential motions challenging the charges.
Her first major decision, though, was when to schedule the trial. Cannon had set a start date for August, though that was always viewed as a placeholder. She met with prosecutors and defense attorneys in court on July 18 in Fort Pierce, and with the two sides seeming far apart on the issue, she expressed some skepticism about both of their suggestions.
Federal prosecutors had argued for starting the trial as soon as December. They acknowledged that would be an “aggressive” timeline, but dismissed any calls for a delay, saying their proposed schedule would give the defense ample time to review evidence handed over in discovery. Prosecutors also said that jury selection in a case like this will be lengthy, but suggested that is a reason to begin the proceedings sooner, rather than later.
Attorneys for Trump, though, said the trial should be postponed until after the presidential election. They said the election will make it harder for an impartial jury to be seated and suggested that the trial could also impact the campaign’s outcome.
His attorneys also said that in addition to a busy campaign schedule, Trump will be entangled in other court cases in the near future. Trump is facing criminal charges in Manhattan, with a trial there set to take place in March 2024, as well as civil lawsuits set to go to trial in New York this fall and early next year. And more criminal charges are possible: Trump is facing separate investigations related to efforts by him and his allies to overturn his 2020 election loss, one conducted by the Atlanta-area district attorney and another being carried out by federal investigators.
During the hearing on July 18, Cannon did not seem sold on at least some of the Trump team’s arguments, including their contention that the intense level of attention on him would abate after the 2024 election. Trump’s attorneys also said the incredible amount of discovery in the case would take them a lot of time to go through.
Cannon did not seem inclined to agree with prosecutors’ timeline, either, saying that she “can appreciate that more time is necessary.” But the Trump side’s open-ended request to push things until after the election, she suggested, is not tenable.
“We need to set a schedule,” she told them during the hearing.
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