Trump classified documents trial could be delayed, as judge considers schedule changes

Ft. Pierce, Florida — The special counsel's classified documents case against former President Donald Trump faces the possibility of delays that would take the trial deeper into the 2024 election cycle, after a federal judge in Florida indicated Wednesday she might grant Trump's request to alter the pretrial schedule. 

Judge Aileen Cannon — a Trump appointee to the federal bench — heard arguments on Wednesday from the former president's attorneys and special counsel Jack Smith's team over Trump's attempt to change the litigation schedule in a way that could push the trial date — currently scheduled for May 2024 — until after the 2024 presidential election. 

"I'm having a hard time seeing how this schedule could work with such compressed schedules of so many trials in multiple jurisdictions," Cannon said from the bench Wednesday, noting that Trump has another federal case, also brought by Smith, in Washington, D.C., which is set to go to trial in Jan. 2024, as well as other legal deadlines stemming from the state charges he faces.