Judge delays Trump classified documents case indefinitely
Al Jazeera
Judge says setting a new date would be ‘imprudent’, raising further doubt about whether the trial will start before the November 5 US election.
A United States judge in Florida has postponed indefinitely former President Donald Trump’s trial on charges that he illegally kept classified documents after leaving office.
US District Judge Aileen Cannon said on Tuesday that Trump’s trial would no longer begin on May 20, but she did not set a new date for proceedings to start, casting further doubt on whether he will face trial before the November election when he hopes to win the presidency for a second time.
Trump faces dozens of charges accusing him of illegally keeping top secret documents that he took from the White House in 2021 after losing the election to Democrat Joe Biden. Also accused of obstructing the FBI’s efforts to get the papers back, Trump has pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing.
The prosecution and defence had both acknowledged that the May date trial would probably need to be delayed, given still-unresolved issues in the case and because Trump is currently on trial in New York in connection with alleged hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential election. The New York case involves several of the same lawyers who are representing Trump in the Florida case.
Judge Cannon, who was appointed by Trump in 2020, scheduled pre-trial hearings to take place until July 22.
