Federal Judge Signals Jack Smith’s Trial Date in Trump Case Is Unrealistic

(Left) Special counsel Jack Smith in Washington on Aug. 1, 2023. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images); (Right) Former President Donald Trump. David Dee Delgado/Getty Images

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon has not ruled on whether the federal Trump classified documents trial should be rescheduled, but she described some of the proposals by special counsel Jack Smith’s team as “unrealistic,” signaling a possible win for the former president.

In court documents submitted this week, federal prosecutors wrote the trial should start on July 8. Former President Donald Trump was charged with dozens of counts that he allegedly illegally retained classified documents at his Florida residence and obstructed justice, among other counts.

During Fridays hearing, Judge Cannon did not signal when she will set a new trial date or if she will do so. But she appeared to push back on federal prosecutors’ suggestion that the trial start in early July, according court reports.

At one point, federal prosecutor Jay Bratt told the court that “I think the parties agree on is that the case can be tried this summer,” it was reported.

But Judge Cannon described some of the timeline proposals from the Smith team to be “unrealistic.” She noted that President Trump’s trial schedule and other cases, including a New York City trial that is slated to start this month, should be considered, adding that the former president has the right to appear at court hearings and appear during the trial.

“That has to come into the equation, to some extent, on scheduling,” she said, according to reporters in the court on Friday. His March 25 New York City trial regarding allegations that he falsified business records is expected to last six weeks.

Additionally, the federal judge said there needs to be “some space” in the schedule before the trial to “allow for flexibility” around how classified materials at the center of the case should be handled.

Trump Lawyers’ Arguments

Lawyers for President Trump, meanwhile, argued to Judge Cannon that prosecutors’ July 8 trial date is “unworkable” and that the trial should start after the November presidential election, suggesting it would be “unfair” to voters during the 2024 campaign

Another Trump attorney, Todd Blanche, proposed that the trial should start no earlier than August because it may damage President Trump’s election chances.

“The campaign is in full swing” by September, he noted. Even without the 2024 election looming, the defense team would require more time to prepare, he told the judge.

“If there were no election … we still wouldn’t be ready for this trial” before November, the attorneys said. “There’s no reason this trial can’t start until late November,” he added, it was reported.

The trial has a tentative starting date of May 20, but Judge Cannon has, on multiple occasions, signaled that it would be pushed back.

His lawyers previously said in court papers that it should be postponed after the election because he is the leading Republican candidate and will likely be the GOP nominee.

“As the leading candidate in the 2024 election, President Trump strongly asserts that a fair trial cannot be conducted this year in a manner consistent with the Constitution, which affords President Trump a Sixth Amendment right to be present and to participate in these proceedings” as well as “a First Amendment right that he shares with the American people to engage in campaign speech,” they wrote previously in court papers submitted to the court.

An aerial view of Mar-a-Lago, the Florida home of former President Donald Trump, on Aug. 15, 2022. The FBI executed a search warrant on the home on Aug. 8, seeking boxes of classified documents that Trump is alleged to have taken from the White House. Marco Bello/Reuters

Additional Significance

It has taken on added significance in light of the uncertainty surrounding a separate federal case in Washington charging President Trump over his activity after the 2020 presidential election. And the Supreme Court said this week that it would hear arguments in late April on whether the former as a former president is immune from prosecution, leaving it unclear whether that case might reach trial before the November election.

If the Florida classified documents case were to be postponed until after the election, and if the Washington election case does not take place this year, that would mean voters would head to the polls without two blockbuster federal prosecutions—both alleging felony charges—being resolved by a jury.

Trump faces 40 felony counts in Florida that accuse him of willfully retaining after he left the White House dozens of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and then rebuffing government demands to give them back.

Prosecutors in recent court filings have stressed the scope of criminal conduct that they say they expect to prove at trial, saying this week in one brief that “there has never been a case in American history in which a former official has engaged in conduct remotely similar to Trump’s.”

The former president has pleaded not guilty to the charges, maintaining that he is being unfairly targeted by the federal government and part of a longstanding witch hunt to imperil his political chances. Last week, his lawyers asked Judge Cannon to dismiss the case, saying that he has presidential immunity and that Mr. Smith was improperly appointed by the Department of Justice.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.