Judge Aileen Cannon on Tuesday delayed the May 20, 2024, trial date for the documents case involving former President Donald Trump indefinitely, signaling it would not take place before the November 2024 presidential election, according to a filing.
Judge Aileen Cannon (United States District Court)
Tuesday’s filing set a number of pre-trial deadlines and hearings in the case regarding pending discovery and disclosure matters and to adjudicate pre-trial motions, as well as deal with procedures on classified information.
Given the number of outstanding issues, Cannon said it would be “imprudent” to schedule a new trial date. She wrote in the five-page filing:
The Court also determines that finalization of a trial date at this juncture — before resolution of the myriad and interconnected pre-trial and CIPA issues remaining and forthcoming — would be imprudent and inconsistent with the Court’s duty to fully and fairly consider the various pending pre-trial motions before the Court, critical CIPA issues, and additional pretrial and trial preparations necessary to present this case to a jury. 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.
One reporter noted it could be “months” before a new trial date was set.
Pro-Trump legal analysts cheered the decision.
Mike Davis, founder of the Article III Project, posted on X, “The Democrats’ house of cards is crumbling. Very quickly.”
Kash Patel, former top Trump administration official, joked on Truth Social:
Jack Smith’s chances for his unconstitutional prosecution of @realDonaldTrump has about as much chance of succeeding as @BidenHQ Hamas engineered ceasefire…oh wait.
Meanwhile, progressive legal analysts reacted angrily to the decision.
Trump-hating George Conway, a contributor to the Atlantic, called Cannon incompetent and biased.
Anthony Coley, a former Obama administration official and contributor to MSNBC, called the decision a “miscarriage of justice,” posting on X:
Aileen Cannon is a MAGA activist in a black robe giving Trump what he wants: an indefinite delay to escape accountability for illegal removing and retaining some of the Nation’s classified secrets. The courts will not save us, folks. It’s on us.
An anti-Trump X account invited attacks against Cannon, posting her photo and asking users to describer her “in ONE word.”
However, at least one Democrat appeared to acknowledge that the process during the case has been lacking.
Former Obama Attorney General Eric Holder posted on X:
Let’s just deal with a very disturbing reality here: this whole process in the documents case has simply not been on the up and up.
Fox News contributor Joe Concha posted, “Even Eric Holder knows that Jack Smith has been utterly inept here. You’ll see on CNN and MSNBC targeting Judge Cannon as compromised (while bear hugging Judge Merchan) but as Holder points out, this is all on Smith.”
This is a developing story.
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