U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon heard arguments Tuesday from Donald Trump’s defense lawyers and prosecutors about his landmark trial on charges he kept classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate, but without setting a trial date.
Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith proposed a December start to the trial, to allow Trump’s lawyers time to get security clearances and review evidence in the case. But Cannon told prosecutors that would be too soon.
Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche argued he couldn’t get a fair trial while campaigning for president and urged a postponement until after the November 2024 election.
Cannon said the case was complex and said she would issue a written decision “promptly.”
Neither Trump nor Smith attended the hearing in Fort Pierce, Fla. Trump’s co-defendant, personal valet Walt Nauta, arrived at the courthouse with his defense lawyers Stan Woodward and Sasha Dadan.
Here are four takeaways from the hearing:
Trump lawyers, DOJ spar over trial schedule
Trump’s lawyers asked for an indefinite delay in his trial by arguing he couldn’t get a fair trial ahead of the 2024 presidential election. Trump’s lawyers argued the evidence at stake is already voluminous, with more on the way. Trump and his Nauta, are busy with the presidential campaign. And Trump has to prepare for other criminal and civil trials.
“It is intellectually dishonest to say this case is like any other case,” Blanche said. “It is not.”
The Justice Department opposed an open-ended delay in the trial.
“He should be treated like everyone else,” said assistant special counsel David Harbach.
Why Judge Cannon is in the spotlight
The hearing marked the first time Cannon, a Trump appointee, met with prosecutors and defense lawyers in the high-profile case. She pressed Trump’s lawyers for a timetable to schedule the case, but questioned whether it could be handled as quickly as prosecutors proposed.
“We need to set a timetable,” Cannon said. “Some deadlines can be established now.”
Cannon’s oversight of the case has been scrutinized because she ordered a special master to review the Mar-a-Lago documents seized during an FBI search in August. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned her order, ruling that Cannon couldn’t allow the subject of a search warrant to block government investigations after the execution of the warrant.
Trump was indicted on 37 counts including willful retention of national defense information under the Espionage Act, conspiracy to obstruct justice and concealing documents.
Who gets access to classified documents in the case?
Another issue at the hearing was the 1980 Classified Information Procedures Act, which governs how classified information is shared in a criminal case. The law aims to balance the defendant’s right to access against the government’s interest in safeguarding secret information.
Prosecutors asked Cannon in a filing before the hearing to partially restrict defense lawyers from sharing documents with Trump and Nauta. Defense lawyers told them they intended to object to portions of the proposed order, but without specifying details.
Trump juggles several pending trials in the next year
The federal documents case is one of several pending against Trump:
- A New York civil trial is pending against Trump’s namesake company in October.
- E. Jean Carroll, who won a $5 million defamation judgment against Trump in May, has a second trial for statements against her made while he was president. The trial is scheduled to start Jan. 15, the date of the Iowa presidential caucuses.
- A New York criminal trial looms in March on charges Trump falsified business records to pay a woman to remain silent before the 2020 election about her claim she had sex with him.
In addition, Smith and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in Georgia are investigating Trump for possible election fraud in 2020. Trump announced Tuesday that Smith named him a target in the federal investigation.
