Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump gestures while he walks with his attorney Todd Blanche, as his criminal trial over charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016 continues, at Manhattan state court in New York City, U.S., May 6, 2024.
Brendan Mcdermid | Reuters
A federal judge Tuesday indefinitely postponed the criminal classified documents trial of former President Donald Trump, a court filing shows.
The trial on charges that Trump willfully retained classified national security records after leaving the White House and then hid them from federal authorities was scheduled to start May 20.
But the new ruling from U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon vacates that date and sets a new slate of pre-trial proceedings, the latest of which is a hearing set for July 22.
The ruling casts more doubt on whether Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, will face trial on the federal criminal charges prior to the Nov. 5 election.
Cannon wrote in Tuesday’s court order that it “would be imprudent” to finalize a trial date “at this juncture” when various pre-trial issues have yet to be resolved.
Cannon pointed to pending questions about how classified information will be handled in the high-profile trial of the former president, along with “additional pretrial and trial preparations necessary to present this case to a jury.”
To move forward with the trial in May would be “inconsistent with the Court’s duty to fully and fairly consider” those issues, she wrote in the filing in federal court in southern Florida.
“The Court therefore vacates the current May 20, 2024, trial date (and associated calendar call), to be reset by separate order following resolution of the matters before the Court, consistent with Defendants’ right to due process and the public’s interest in the fair and efficient administration of justice,” Cannon ruled.
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