Trump documents judge indicates trial won’t start soon: ‘A lot of work remains’
The federal judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s classified documents criminal case said in court Friday that “a lot of work remains to be done” before it can head to trial, even as federal prosecutors push for an early summer start date.
“This case can be tried this summer,” prosecutor Jay Bratt, a member of special counsel Jack Smith’s team, insisted to US District Judge Aileen Cannon in the Fort Pierce, Fla. courtroom.
“We very much believe that a trial that takes place before the election is a mistake and should not happen,” Trump defense attorney Todd Blanche replied. “The easy solution is to start this trial after the election.”
Cannon did not issue a ruling but hinted a trial would not get underway on the special counsel’s timetable.
Trump, 77, was greeted by a crowd of supporters outside the Fort Pierce courthouse around 9:30 a.m., a half-hour before the hearing with co-defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira.
He sat quietly during the proceedings but appeared to be listening intently to the arguments, while whispering to Blanche at other times.
On Thursday, Smith filed a motion requesting a July 8 trial start, while Trump attorneys Todd Blanche and Christopher Kise asked in a subsequent filing for proceedings to begin on Aug. 12.
Blanche and Kise wrote that Smith’s proposed trial date for their client, the current 2024 GOP front-runner, would violate a Justice Department policy that prohibits a special counsel from taking “actions that may have an impact on an election.”
They referenced a 2018 report from the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General that cited “a general principle of avoiding interference in elections” — a norm much discussed during Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign.
Following the 2020 election, the attorneys added, deputy special counsel J.P. Cooney was also “seeking to forestall valid investigations of election fraud” due to the “longstanding policy of non-interference in elections.”
In court, Bratt said the policy only applied to matters preceding indictments, ABC News reported, and the special counsel’s motion for a trial was “in full compliance with the Justice Department manual.”
Blanche and Kise argued that a July 8 trial date would “rush” proceedings and “a fair trial” could not really be held until after the 2024 vote, as the former president faces other criminal trials and potential ballot disqualification in several states.
Smith indicted Trump and his valet in June 2023 for allegedly conspiring to retain classified material at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate after leaving office — and later lying to his own attorneys and federal authorities who sought them.
The following month, the special counsel indicted de Oliveira, , the Palm Beach, Fla., resort’s property manager for attempting to delete security camera footage of him and Nauta moving boxes of classified documents to a storage room.
Trump’s attorneys also asked Cannon to hear their motion to dismiss the case entirely on the grounds of presidential immunity — a defense the former president also made in his 2020 election interference case in Washington, DC.
On Wednesday, Trump scored a win when the Supreme Court announced that it will hear oral arguments following an appeal on those grounds in April, further delaying Smith’s push for a trial of the former president in DC.
“The Justices’ anticipated ruling will provide guidance as Your Honor evaluates President Trump’s motion to dismiss the case based on presidential immunity,” Blanche and Kise wrote to Cannon in their filing.
“President Trump respectfully submits that all of these considerations are relevant as the Court considers proposed schedules for the remainder of this unlawful case.”
Friday’s hearing with Cannon was expected to cover issues related to jury selection, the disclosure or non-disclosure of classified material as evidence and witness protection efforts as well.
Cannon previously allowed defense lawyers to disclose some witnesses’ names, but changed course after prosecutors objected.
She later called the disclosures a “clear error” and put the order allowing it on hold.
Trump will head to trial on March 25 in Manhattan after District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged the former president with business fraud last year for allegedly making “hush money” payments through his legal fixer to an adult film star to keep her quiet about a decade-old affair before the 2016 election.
Meanwhile, the status of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ case against Trump and 18 co-defendants for allegedly interfering in the 2020 election in Georgia remains up in the air, as the Atlanta prosecutor faces a disqualification hearing Friday afternoon.
With Post wires
