Federal Judge Aileen Cannon announced an updated schedule for the forthcoming trial of former President Donald Trump in the case dealing with his alleged mishandling of classified documents after leaving the White House and granted a continuance that will push the trial's start to May 20, 2024.
Responding to the government's motion seeking a continuance, Judge Cannon agreed to grant the motion in part after finding that "the interests of justice served by this continuance outweigh the best interest of the public and Defendants in a speedy trial."
NEW — A federal judge has decided to set the trial date for Trump's classified documents case for May 20, 2024.
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 21, 2023
The date is six months out from the 2024 election. pic.twitter.com/EEvaZnu8nq
The Trump document trial was initially scheduled to begin on August 14 — now less than one month away — but Judge Cannon's order noted that all parties "agree that a continuance of the current trial date is warranted" due to discovery in the case being "exceedingly voluminous" which will "require substantial time to review and digest in accordance with Defendants' right to a fair trial."
In addition, Judge Cannon agreed to designate Trump's case as "complex" despite opposition from the government and said "the Court is unaware of any searchable case in which a court has refused a complex designation under comparable circumstances." Still, the case at hand remains the first time a former president has been indicted on felony charges.
In "taking due account of the public's interest in a speedy trial and the rights of the parties," the new schedule (included in the full court order embedded below) was established by Judge Cannon leading up to the trial's start date that is fewer than six months before Election Day.
A quick glance at the 2024 primary calendar shows that the trial's current scheduled start date comes roughly two weeks after "Super Tuesday," meaning the Republican nomination fight could be more or less settled — or at least a presumptive nominee may be apparent — by the time Trump's jury trial begins.
There's still a chance that there could be additional developments necessitating further delays as there remains to be a lot up in the air around Trump, not least of which includes president Trump's announcement earlier this week that he expects to be arrested and indicted by a grand jury investigating the events surrounding January 6, 2021.
In addition, as Jonathan Turley pointed out Friday morning, the current schedule does not account for potential delays which could arise out of appeals dealing with issues surrounding the government's case against the 45th president.
The trial date for Trump has been set for May 20, 2025, roughly six months before the election. However, that is not counting any delays due to appeals taken on threshold issues that could delay the trial...
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) July 21, 2023
The full order from Judge Cannon — a Trump nominee — is below:
This is a developing story and may be updated.