In a courtroom sketch, former U.S. President Donald Trump and his attorney Chris Kise appeared at Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. United States Courthouse in Miami, Florida on June 13, 2023, facing federal indictment charges related to classified documents.
Jane Rosenberg | Reuters
A trial date has been set for former President Donald Trump, who is accused of illegally retaining classified government documents. The trial is scheduled to begin on August 14 in Florida federal court.
However, experts believe that the trial will not start as early as planned due to the complexity of legal issues that need to be resolved before presenting evidence to a jury.
Earlier this month, Trump, currently seeking the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, was indicted on over three dozen criminal charges related to the retention of classified records after leaving the White House in January 2021. If the trial date remains, it will take place just over a week before the first GOP presidential debate of the campaign.
The 77-year-old has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
In an order issued on Tuesday, Judge Aileen Cannon instructed Department of Justice prosecutors and Trump’s lawyers to file all pretrial motions by July 24. Cannon also designated U.S. District Court in Fort Pierce, Florida as the location for all hearings in the case, including the trial.
The case against Trump is being handled by the federal Southern District of Florida, known for its expedited trial proceedings compared to other federal jurisdictions.
The DOJ’s indictment includes photographs of classified documents found at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago residence.
DOJ
In complex cases like this, it is typical for both prosecutors and defense attorneys to request a trial delay in order to adequately prepare their cases and resolve disputes over evidence presentation to the jury.
Tim Parlatore, a former lawyer for Trump in this case, expressed doubt that the trial would take place within a year, stating, “I can foresee some fairly substantive motions to dismiss the indictment. I could also see them going through several discovery motions, and there will be fights over disclosure. I think each round of motions is going to take three months.”
On Monday, a federal magistrate judge issued an order prohibiting Trump’s defense attorneys from sharing any evidence obtained from prosecutors with the media or the public.
In an interview with Fox News on Monday, Trump justified his failure to return government records that were requested for months, explaining that he had to first remove personal belongings from boxes containing those documents.
“Before I send boxes over, I have to take all of my things out. These boxes were interspersed with all sorts of things,” Trump said.
“I was very busy, as you’ve sort of seen,” he added.
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