The date for former President Donald Trump’s classified documents trial has been postponed indefinitely.
Trump had been charged with improperly storing classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate. His federal trial had been scheduled to start May 20, according to CNBC.
The ruling from U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon scraps that date and sets a new slate of pretrial activities that begin Wednesday and continue through July 22.
The ruling does not set a date for the trial
Cannon wrote that it “would be imprudent” to finalize a trial date “at this juncture” when various pretrial issues have yet to be resolved.
The ruling said more time is needed “to permit adequate time for hearings and adjudication of substantive pretrial motions, discovery disputes, and CIPA issues, many of which present novel and difficult questions.” CIPA is the acronym for the Classified Information Procedures Act.
One major issue that needed to be resolved, according to the judge, was how classified information would be handled during the trial, citing “additional pretrial and trial preparations necessary to present this case to a jury.”
A May 20 date would be “inconsistent with the Court’s duty to fully and fairly consider” those issues, she wrote.
“The Court therefore vacates the current May 20, 2024, trial date (and associated calendar call), to be reset by separate order following resolution of the matters before the Court, consistent with Defendants’ right to due process and the public’s interest in the fair and efficient administration of justice,” Cannon wrote.
According to ABC, Department of Justice prosecutor Jack Smith declined to comment on the delay.
https://twitter.com/WarClandestine/status/1787959756046368785?
Last week, Smith’s team revealed that at some point after boxes of documents were seized from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, the order of the documents changed, which the court did not learn about until now.
The revelation was contained in a new court filing.
But the detail is a big deal because part of Trump’s defense is expected to be that documents were packed in chronological order, with no regard for classification marking, according to Just the News.
Trump reacted to the news by posting, “ARREST DERANGED JACK SMITH. HE IS A CRIMINAL!” on Truth Social.
“It has always been clear that the ‘Documents Case’ is nothing but an Election Interference Scam concocted by Crooked Joe Biden, Deranged Jack Smith, and their Hacks and Thugs,” Trump also posted on Truth Social.
“Now, Deranged Jack has admitted in a filing in front of Judge Cannon to what I have been saying happened since the Illegal RAID on my home, Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida — That he and his team committed blatant Evidence Tampering by mishandling the very Boxes they used as a pretext to bring this Fake Case. These deeply Illegal actions by the Politicized “Persecutors” mandate that this whole Witch Hunt be DROPPED IMMEDIATELY. END THE ‘BOXES HOAXES.’ MAGA2024!” Trump posted.
via westernjournal