Hearing on classified Trump documents ends without new trial date

Federal Judge Aileen Cannon was skeptical Tuesday of Donald Trump’s lawyer’s request to start a trial over the handling of classified documents. After the 2024 general electionin which the former president pretends to be the Republican candidate.

During a hearing in federal court in Florida, Cannon, who last month set Aug. 14 as the start date for an oral trial, also balked at prosecutors’ proposal to start jury selection from December on Aug. 11. However, he announced that he will announce his decision soon.

Today’s hearing, which lasted nearly two hours, marked the first time that lawyers for both sides sat in front of Cannon, the judge in charge of the case and who was appointed to this federal court during the Trump presidency (2017-2021).

The former president’s lawyers, who did not attend the hearing (he was not required to), asked the judge to take into account Trump’s status as the favorite for the Republican primaries when setting the date for the start of the jury trial.

This was said by Todd Blanche, one of Trump’s lawyers a fair trial before the election will be impossible and asserted that part of the citizenry in this case sees the possible influence of the current administration of US President Joe Biden, who will run for re-election in 2024.

Attorney for the Prosecutor’s Office David Harbach categorically rejected that claim and pointed out that the Government appointed special prosecutor Jack Smith to eliminate any hint of “political influence”, and that the team members are also career civil servants.

Canon he was not persuaded that Trump’s status as the favorite of the Republican Party is a sufficient argument for delaying the trial until mid-November next year, i.e. just after the election, but he accepted the complexity of handling classified information.

The attorneys of the Prosecutor’s Office stated that the selection of the jury in this case could take longer than usual, and that is precisely why the trial should begin before the end of the year.

The one who came into the room today accompanied by his lawyer is Waltine Nauta, the former president’s personal assistant who is also accused of allegedly mishandling classified documents that US authorities found in 2022 from Trump’s Florida home.

The hearing was overshadowed today by Trump himself about a letter he received from special counsel Jack Smith this Sunday advising him to is the subject of the investigation for the role he played in the capture of the Capitol on January 6, 2021 by a mob of his supporters.

There were only a dozen journalists in front of the court this Tuesday, but not a single opponent or supporter of the former president. There were, at last month’s hearing in federal court in Miami, where hundreds of Trump supporters and critics gathered. On that occasion, the former president pleaded not guilty to seven federal crimes he faces, including willful concealment of documents related to US defense, as well as obstruction of justice and “corruptly” concealment of documents or records.

At the ensuing hearing, also in Miami, Nauta also pleaded not guilty to six crimes charged by Smith’s prosecution team. Who was Trump’s military aide during his presidency, the prosecutor’s office points out as one of those who moved boxes of official documents inside the Republican mansion in Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach (east coast of Florida), so that FBI agents and lawyers of the former president supposedly they couldn’t find them.

Trump claims that this case for classified documents and others he opened are part of “Witch hunt» allegedly unleashed on him by President Joe Biden to prevent him from ever reaching the White House again.