Trump-appointed judge sets trial date in classified documents case

Court date ‘signals that the court is at least trying to do everything it can to move the case along,’ former federal prosecutor says

Judge Aileen Cannon has set a date for the trial in the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump.

The Trump-appointed judge has signed a court order listing the trial as starting on 14 August of this year in Fort Pierce, Florida.

“This case is hereby set for a Criminal Jury Trial during the two-week period commencing August 14, 2023, or as soon thereafter as the case may be called,” the court order states.

“Any change of plea must be taken prior to 5:00 p.m. on the last business day before trial is scheduled to begin,” it adds.

The court order is likely to be challenged as motions are filed, including requests for the trial to be delayed.

“All pre-trial motions and motions in limine must be filed by July 24, 2023,” the court order states.

Scott MacFarlane of CBS News noted that “This timeline seems quite aspirational. Not likely to hold”.

Judge Cannon appears to have created what’s called a “rocket docket” seemingly in an attempt to push the trial through the judicial system. Most federal trials take as long as a year to commence as both parties prepare for the proceedings, The Daily Beast noted.

Legal experts have previously indicated that Judge Cannon can be unpredictable and that she has ruled in favour of Mr Trump in the past after he appointed her shortly before leaving the White House.

While overseeing Mr Trump’s challenge to the raid of his Mar-a-Lago estate last year, she added more red tape, slowing down the FBI probe.

Former federal prosecutor Brandon Van Grack told The New York Times that the proposed trial date probably won’t stand as the discovery process of handing over classified evidence to the defence legal team hasn’t started yet.

But he said that the date “signals that the court is at least trying to do everything it can to move the case along and that it’s important that the case proceed quickly”.

“Even though it’s unlikely to hold, it’s at least a positive signal — positive in the sense that all parties and the public should want this case to proceed as quickly as possible,” he added.

As Mr Trump struggles to retain lawyers to represent him, it’s unclear if the defence wants the case to move quickly and for the case to be resolved ahead of the 2024 election or if there will be attempts to delay it until after the election.

But Mr Trump has for decades attempted to delay legal cases, and this case is likely to be given the same treatment. If the trial goes beyond the 2024 election and Mr Trump is elected, he may theoretically attempt to pardon himself. He may also order his attorney general to drop the charges against him, The Times notes.

Following Mr Trump’s indictment in Miami, Special Counsel Jack Smith indicated that he wanted a speedy trial.

Judge Cannon wrote in the court order that the trial is set to take place at her home courthouse in Fort Pierce, a small town in the north of the Southern District of Florida.

Considering the number of things that have to happen before the case can go on trial, the August date is highly unlikely to remain in place since Mr Trump’s legal team has started a process of getting security clearances to be able to view the evidence in the case. The clearance process usually takes months.

Mr Trump’s legal team is also not set for trial following a number of recent departures. Stanley Woodward Jr, the lawyer representing Trump aide Walt Nauta who was also indicted in the case, is looking for Florida lawyers to help him, The Times noted. Mr Nauta is set to be arraigned next week.

As Mr Trump stands accused of unlawfully retaining 31 national defence documents, many with top secret classifications, both sides are set to engage in proceedings behind closed doors to decide how to handle the classified information.

Large parts of that legal wrangling will be conducted under the guidance of the Classified Information Procedures Act and if the federal prosecutors are unhappy with any of the future rulings by Judge Cannon in connection to that legislation, they may halt the pretrial proceedings to file an appeal with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. Meanwhile, the defence would have to hold off until after a possible conviction to appeal any evidentiary problems according to that legislation.

Mr Trump’s legal team is expected to file a number of motions ahead of the trial, including arguments that he’s being singled out while other high-profile officials investigated for allegedly mishandling classified files weren’t charged. They may also argue that prosecutors are guilty of misconduct, in addition to attempting to stop the use of audio notes made by one of his attorneys that the government got ahold of ahead of the filing of the indictment.

Mr Trump’s legal woes are expected to further affect his campaign to return to the White House, as the former president has used his 2024 efforts to claim that the charges against him are a politically motivated attempt to take him out of contention.

While the trial has been scheduled for 14 August, the first Republican primary debate has been scheduled for 23 August in Milwaukee. But Mr Trump hasn’t confirmed his attendance and he has signalled that he may not take part in the first two debates.

Additional legal problems for Mr Trump include the hush money indictment in the Southern District of New York and the second defamation trial brought by writer E Jean Carroll set for January. In the previous trial this year, Mr Trump was found liable for sexually assaulting Ms Carroll in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the mid-1990s.

Georgia prosecutors in Fulton County may also bring charges in connection to Mr Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 elections results in the state. Mr Smith is also overseeing a second probe on the federal level into Mr Trump’s attempts to remain in office despite losing the election.