Judge suggests possible delay in Trump classified documents trial

A federal judge has floated a possible delay for former President Trump’s trial in the Mar-a-Lago documents case, pointing to potential scheduling complications given his multiple prosecutions.

Trump is currently slated to face a May trial in the Florida case, meaning it would fall a little more than two months after his D.C.-based trial on charges relating to an effort to block the transfer of power after President Biden won the 2020 election.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon appeared ready to side with Trump’s attorneys in their request to postpone the trial, saying she “has a hard time seeing how realistically this [current schedule] would work,” even as prosecutors pushed her to keep the scheduled start date.

Cannon also pointed to the 1.3 million pages of evidence that prosecutors in the Mar-a-Lago case have provided to the defense, along with thousands of hours of security video shot at Trump’s resort. She questioned whether Trump’s lawyers will have adequate time to review the evidence in the next six months.

“I am not quite seeing a level of understanding on your part to these realities,” Cannon told prosecutor Jay Bratt, a member of special counsel Jack Smith’s team.

Bratt told Cannon she “should not let the D.C. trial drive the schedule here” as numerous motions in the D.C. case, such as defense motions to delay the Washington trial and dismiss those charges, could postpone that trial. 

The federal prosecutor also noted Trump’s attorneys from the beginning have pushed to delay the trial until after the November 2024 election, where he hopes to win back the White House from Biden.

Trump is facing Espionage Act charges in the Mar-a-Lago case after refusing to return classified records from his time as president, as well as obstruction of justice charges for his efforts to conceal them from prosecutors.

The Associated Press contributed.