Update: 05/07/2024 23:49
Issued by: 05/07/2024, 23:49
Washington – The judge overseeing the trial of former US President Donald Trump in the case surrounding the handling of secret documents confirmed today that the main trial will not begin on May 20, as she announced last year. She has not planned any new date, inform the American the media. According to commentators, it is highly unlikely that the main part of the process in Florida will begin before the November election.
Postponement of the main trial was considered inevitable for a long time, as the preparatory phase of the trial is progressing slowly. Cannon had previously asked both sides to propose new dates, after which both the prosecution and defense came up with summer options. However, according to the media, even such a scenario is unlikely.
As in his other criminal cases, Trump is trying to prolong the proceedings in various ways, and Cannon, whom he appointed himself in 2020, is relatively receptive to these maneuvers, according to the media. In recent months, she has rejected two of Trump’s requests to dismiss the entire indictment, but she still has a number of other motions on her desk that she has not yet decided on.
Cannon herself said in today’s announcement that “countless” unresolved issues remain in the pretrial phase nearly a year after the indictment. “Therefore, the court remands the existing trial date of May 20, 2024 … to be re-set by a separate order after resolution of the issues before the court,” she wrote.
Trump, who is the first ex-president in US history to be indicted, is accused in the case of unauthorized storage of sensitive government documents after leaving office. The charges stem from the fact that investigators found dozens of materials at his Florida residence in 2022 with designations corresponding to various levels of classification, including the “top secret” level. The search of Trump’s residence came after the former president did not cooperate with authorities’ efforts to secure the documents through other means.
It is one of four impeachment charges against Trump, who is virtually certain to be the Republican Party’s nominee in the upcoming presidential election. Only the indictment for falsifying business records, which is currently being considered by a jury in New York, is likely to reach a verdict before the election.
