Judge in Trump’s classified documents case cancels May trial date; no new date set

WASHINGTON — The federal judge in Florida presiding over former President Donald Trump’s prosecution has canceled the May 20 trial date and postponed it indefinitely.

The order from U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon was expected in light of the still unresolved issues in the case and because Trump is currently on trial in a separate case in Manhattan charging him in connection with hush money payments during the 2016 presidential election. case in New York involves several of the same attorneys representing him in the federal case in Florida.

Cannon said in a five-page order Tuesday that it would be “imprudent” to set a new trial date now, casting further doubt on federal prosecutors’ ability to bring Trump to trial before November’s presidential election.

Trump faces dozens of felony charges accusing him of illegally hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, that he took with him after leaving the White House in 2021, and then the FBI’s attempts to prevented them from getting back. . He has pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing.

Trump faces four criminal charges as he tries to win back the White House, but aside from the prosecution in New York, it is not clear that any of the other three will face trial before the election.

The Supreme Court is weighing Trump’s arguments that he is immune from federal prosecution in a separate case in which special counsel Jack Smith accuses him of conspiring to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia, have also filed a separate case alleging election subversion, although it is unclear when it will go to trial.