The judge says setting a new date is “imprudent,” casting further doubt on whether the trial will begin before the Nov. 5 U.S. election.
A US judge in Florida has indefinitely postponed the trial of former President Donald Trump over allegations that he illegally retained confidential documents after leaving office.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon said Tuesday that Trump’s trial would no longer begin on May 20, but she did not set a new date for the trial to begin, raising further doubts about whether he would be held before the election November, in which he hopes to win, will be put on trial for the presidency for the second time.
Trump faces dozens of indictments accusing him of illegally storing top-secret documents he took from the White House in 2021 after he lost the election to Democrat Joe Biden. Trump is also accused of obstructing the FBI’s efforts to get the papers back. He pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing.
Both the prosecution and the defense had acknowledged that the May trial would likely have to be postponed because there are still unresolved questions in the case and Trump is currently on trial in New York in connection with alleged hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels during the trial 2016 presidential election. The New York case involves several of the same lawyers who represented Trump in the Florida case.
Judge Cannon, who was appointed by Trump in 2020, has scheduled preliminary hearings until July 22.
She said it would be “unwise” to set a new trial date given the uncertainties.
Special prosecutor Jack Smith, who filed the lawsuit, has suggested the trial should begin in July.
Trump’s lawyers said the trial should not begin until after the Nov. 5 election, but suggested an Aug. 12 date in response to a directive from Cannon suggesting a timeline for the case.
Trump’s lawyers have worked to delay all four criminal cases he faces.
The other two cases relate to his alleged attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election – he has already been indicted on those charges in a Georgia court, while the Supreme Court is weighing Trump’s arguments in a separate case immune from prosecution at the federal level was brought by Smith.
“We find ourselves in this absolutely unprecedented situation where a defendant may have the power to stop his own prosecution,” said George Washington University law professor Randall Eliason, an expert in white-collar criminal cases.
“This is an argument for bringing the case to court before the election.”
Trump has tried to portray all legal cases against him as politically motivated.
Charges in the Florida case include violations of the Espionage Act, which criminalizes unauthorized possession of national defense information, as well as conspiracy to obstruct justice and making false statements to investigators.
Cannon has rejected two attempts by Trump to dismiss the charges, but several are still pending.