Judge indefinitely postpones Trump’s trial date in Mar-A-Lago classified documents case

A federal judge has indefinitely delayed the trial date in the special counsel case against Donald Trump for allegedly mishandling classified documents.

In a decision filed on Tuesday, US district judge Aileen M Cannon vacated a planned 20 May trial date, writing that a host of issues around evidence, discovery, and the Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA) still needed to be decided before the high-profile trial could commence.

Judge Cannon, a former federal prosecutor who was nominated to the bench by Trump in 2020, argued in her decision that extending the pre-trial process through the end of July would “outweigh the best interest of the public and Defendants in a speedy trial.”

The former president faces 40 separate federal charges in the case, stemming from allegedly holding onto hundreds of classified documents after leaving the White House for his private Mar-a-Lago home and club in Florida, then conspiring to obstruct government attempts to retrieve the materials. He has pleaded not guilty.

Outside of the trial date question, the classified documents case has yielded other revelations about Mr Trump’s time since leaving office.

In documents unsealed this week, the former president’s valet and co-defendant, Walt Nauta, described Mr Trump essentially choosing at random which documents to return to the National Archives as he wrapped up his presidential affairs.

“What I recall is every time he would leave for the evening, they would come up, and they would collect all the papers that he threw on the floor; or that – at the time – we understood that he didn’t need any more,” Mr Nauta told FBI agents investigating the case.

The decision from Judge Cannon means that the former president’s ongoing hush money trial in New York may be the only one of the many legal battles facing Mr Trump that will play out before the 2024 election is complete.

The other case from special counsel Jack Smith against Mr Trump, which accuses the former president of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election results, is currently on hold as the Supreme Court weighs whether Mr Trump is protected by presidential immunity.

Meanwhile, in Georgia, a case accusing the former president and his associates of conspiring to interfere with the 2020 election results does not yet have a trial date, despite Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s stated goal of trying Mr Trump before the election.

The case there was derailed for weeks as courts considered the legal implications of a romantic relationship between Ms Willis and Nathan Wade, a special prosecutor who was involved in the Trump case and has since resigned.

The greatest immediate threat to Mr Trump is the New York case.

On Monday, Judge Juan Merchan found the former president in contempt of court and in violation of a trial-related gag order, fining Mr Trump $1,000 and threatening him with jail time if he continues to violate court orders around his public commentary on the case.