A federal judge in Florida has slated the criminal trial of ex-President Donald Trump, who faces charges of unlawfully keeping classified government documents, to commence on August 14th or soon after, contingent on when the case might be brought up.
The directive was issued on Tuesday morning by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed during Trump’s presidency.
According to Cannon’s order, all pretrial motions must be filed by both parties by July 24th.
In this case, the Justice Department’s special counsel, Jack Smith, vowed a swift trial subsequent to a 37-count indictment that accuses Trump of intentionally holding on to classified government documents and obstructing justice.
However, the intricacies of dealing with highly classified evidence, the extent to which Trump’s legal representation challenges the government’s pretrial motions, and the judge’s handling of the schedule could all potentially lead to a drawn-out trial, as per legal experts. Furthermore, experts caution that there’s no guarantee the trial will commence as per the scheduled date.
Cannon’s directive follows a Monday decision by a U.S. judge instructing Trump’s defense team not to disclose any evidence related to the classified document case to the media or the public, as per a court document.
This directive from U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart also imposed stringent stipulations on Trump’s access to the material.
