Opinion
4 hours ago
Trump docs trial set for May 2024 at height of White House race
WASHINGTON - A US judge on Friday ordered Donald Trump's trial for mishandling top secret documents to begin in May of next year, at the height of what is expected to be a bitter and divisive presidential election campaign.
US District Court Judge Aileen Cannon set the start of the jury trial of the former president -- the first ever to face criminal charges -- for May 20, 2024.
Prosecutors had asked for the trial to begin in December of this year, while Trump's defense attorneys had requested it be held after the November 2024 election.
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Cannon said she chose a May start date to give both sides time to process more than 1.1 million pages of discovery evidence and confront the challenge of handling the classified documents at the heart of the case.
"No one disagrees that Defendants need adequate time to review and evaluate it on their own accord," said Cannon, a Trump appointee who was randomly assigned to the high-stakes legal battle.
The 77-year-old Trump is the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination and the trial will begin near the end of the primary campaign to select the party's candidate.
A Trump spokesperson welcomed the judge's decision not to start the trial in December, calling it a "setback to the (Justice Department's) crusade to deny President Trump a fair legal process.
"The extensive schedule allows President Trump and his legal team to continue fighting this empty hoax," the spokesperson said.
The trial will not stop the onetime reality television star from campaigning, but a criminal defendant is generally required to be present during the proceedings, which are expected to last weeks, if not months.
If the trial is ongoing and Trump wins the November 2024 election, he could conceivably take action to intervene or even pardon himself upon taking office.
Trump pleaded not guilty last month to some three dozen criminal counts for allegedly refusing to return sensitive government records he took when he left the White House in 2021.