While Donald Trump’s federal election interference case moves toward a March trial in Washington, his federal classified documents case in Florida appears to keep getting delayed.
The Washington Post reported that U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon suggested at a hearing Wednesday “that she might push back the planned trial timeline, as courts wrestle with the growing complexity of juggling four separate criminal cases and an ongoing civil trial against the former president.”
As I’ve noted, when Cannon set a May start date back in July, it was a reasonable enough call, all things considered. The question, though, was whether that date would hold. Now we’re seeing the latest evidence it may not.
Trump’s Georgia case doesn’t have a trial date yet, and his New York criminal case is set for late March, but that likely won’t happen if his Washington case starts earlier that month. Trump pleaded not guilty in all four cases.
Even if Cannon doesn’t push her date, starting Trump’s first trial in March could still imperil a May start in Florida. Of course, no dates are set in stone, so we’ll have to see if Trump’s first trial in fact goes forward in March. The reasonableness of any delay Cannon orders will depend on how much and why.
Scheduling decisions are the sort of thing over which trial judges have great discretion, so don’t plan on special counsel Jack Smith successfully challenging any scheduling moves, especially ones that are in relatively short increments (compared with, say, the yearslong delay Trump sought in setting the initial dates). Of course, as we may realize more acutely in the coming months, relatively short delays can add up.
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