U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon on May 7 reset deadlines in the case special counsel Jack Smith is prosecuting against former President Donald Trump, blowing past the original May 20 trial date with pretrial deadlines running through July.
Judge Cannon did not set a new trial date in the order, finding it premature.
The judge had signaled this possibility earlier in the year, referencing the amount of litigation around what classified information will be used in the case. Such litigation will continue through July 22 according to the judge’s new calendar, which lists several major hearings.
President Trump was charged with 40 counts related to allegedly mishandling classified information. His valet Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager, Carlos De Oliveira, were charged alongside him as codefendants.
Adding to the classified information issues, President Trump is currently on trial in New York, where prosecutors estimate they need up to three more weeks to present their case, and he is required to be present during the trial. If defense attorneys call additional witnesses, it may add to the trial length in New York.
Judge Cannon wrote that to set a date now before resolving the “myriad and interconnected pre-trial and CIPA [Classified Information Procedures Act] issues” would not be fair or prudent.
The judge still has before her several motions to dismiss charges or the indictment entirely, motions to unseal information that the defendants argue is critical in the case, and ongoing discovery issues to resolve.
Judge Cannon revealed that there are eight substantive motions to rule on, two of which have not been publicly docketed, and “extensive” discovery issues.
Mr. Nauta and Mr. De Oliveira had demanded a speedy trial, which puts prosecutors and the court on a clock to bring the case to trial, and Judge Cannon said she has weighed the Speedy Trial Act against due process rights.
“Upon such review, the Court finds that the ends of justice served by this continuance, through the last deadline specified in this Order, July 22, 2024, outweigh the best interest of the public and Defendants in a speedy trial,” she wrote.
Possibly complicating matters is the prosecutors’ recent admission that the documents in the boxes seized are not in the same order as the scanned copies given to the defense, leading defendants to argue for additional discovery that could further move deadlines.
