FORT PIERCE — The federal judge tasked with overseeing Donald Trump’s classified documents case has rescheduled the former president’s and Walt Nauta’s trial for May 20, despite pleas by Trump’s attorneys to hold off on scheduling the trial until after the 2024 presidential election.
In a seven-page order released Friday, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon said the “interests of justice” warrant a nine month delay from the trial’s original August start date. Her decision followed lengthy debate at the first pre-trial conference this week over whether Trump’s status as a presidential candidate warranted an indefinite delay of the trial. Cannon, like prosecutors, seemed unconvinced that it did.
She was skeptical of prosecutors’ proposed Dec. 11 trial date, too, mulling over whether the complexity of the case calls for a more measured approach. She asked Justice attorney Jay Bratt if he knew of other cases that went to trial within six months of attorneys procuring the final batch of discovery, and Bratt shook his head. The quickest he knew of was eight months.
Bratt said he and his co-counselors were committed to doing the work to achieve the “aggressive timeline” they proposed. Justice attorney David Harbach rejected the idea that the proposed December date was expedited at all, telling Cannon that the right to a speedy trial doesn’t need to be justified; only a diversion from it does.
Cannon pressed Trump’s lawyers to offer their own proposed trial date, and they landed on late November 2024. Next year’s presidential election is scheduled for Nov. 5.
Trump attorney Todd Blanche pointed to the sheer amount of discovery prosecutors have yet to hand over as well as the nationwide attention on Trump, which he said may prevent attorneys from finding a fair and unbiased jury.
His co-counselor Christopher Kise suggested Cannon wait until the election concludes and the attention dies down. Cannon said she doubted it ever would.
Trump’s codefendant Nauta is not running for president, but his attorney Stanley Woodward asked Cannon to delay the trial all the same. Woodward said he needs more time to review all discovery — which includes more than 1.1 million pages of documents and over three years of video — before he can decide whether to sever Nauta’s case from Trump. (Both men are charged under one indictment, thereby slated to be tried together. This could change if Nauta believes he has better odds resolving his case separately.)
Hannah Phillips is a journalist covering public safety and criminal justice at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at hphillips@pbpost.com.
