FORT PIERCE — Taxes Federal officials pressured a federal judge Friday to schedule a judgment for this summer in the case of secret documents facing former President Donald Trump, while the defense lawyers tried to postpone it until after the elections this year in the United States.
The pressure on Trump’s trial comes days after a special prosecutor ruled out criminal charges against President Joe Biden for withholding secret documents, the same case for which Trump is being prosecuted. The prosecutor described the president as “an old man with a bad memory” to justify his decision about Biden, who had classified documents found in different places where they remained for years.
District Judge Aileen Cannon did not set a date during the crucial hours-long hearing in Fort Pierce, Florida, where Trump was present, although she was skeptical that a trial in the case could begin within the time frame requested by the judges. prosecutors.
Date is key
The trial date decision is key as it will determine whether the former president — who is also leading the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination — faces a jury before the November election over charges that he kept documents. top secrets’ in his Mar-a-Lago mansion in Florida and allegedly hid them from government investigators, according to the Justice Department run by a Biden ally.
Given the severity of the allegations and the breadth of evidence prosecutors say they have amassed, the documents case has long been considered the most legally risky of the four criminal trials Trump faces this year.
During the hearing, which Trump attended, his lawyers argued that the trial should not be held until after the November elections, in which the former president will be, barring any surprise, the Republican candidate.
The defense indicated that the trial could begin on August 12, if Judge Aileen Cannon insisted on a date.
Democrats demand trial for July
The special prosecutor in the case, Jack Smith, proposed starting the trial on July 8, but Cannon considered that possibility “unrealistic,” taking into account the numerous motions presented by both parties.
“This case could be tried this summer,” said prosecutor Jay Bratt, a member of prosecutor Smith’s team, who has pushed for the trial to take place in July, four months before the election.
Defense attorneys, on the other hand, maintain that there is no fair way for there to be a fair trial this year, at a time when Trump is seeking to secure the Republican presidential nomination, but they have nevertheless offered August 12 as a possible date for jury selection begins.
Defense: it would be a “mistake”
“We firmly believe that a trial that takes place before the election is a mistake and should not happen,” said attorney Todd Blanche. “The easy solution is to start this trial after the elections.”
Although he did not rule immediately, Cannon hinted that he did not see the case as close to going to trial, telling attorneys that “there is a lot of work left to do.”
The hearing held in Fort Pierce, in southeastern Florida, concluded without the magistrate setting a new date.
Last year, the former president (2017–2021) pleaded not guilty to illegally retaining classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago Florida residence, hindering the FBI’s efforts to recover them, and false testimony.
His legal team is trying to postpone the cases against him until after the November elections where, barring any surprise, he will be the Republican candidate.
For now, he has already managed to postpone the start of the other federal trial that the magnate faces – that of his alleged attempt to alter the result of the 2020 elections – by getting the Supreme Court to agree to study whether or not he has immunity for crimes committed when he is still He was president.
The trial date has taken on added importance in light of the uncertainty surrounding another federal case in Washington, in which Trump is accused of allegedly conspiring to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The Supreme Court said this week it would hear arguments in late April over whether Trump, as former president, is immune from prosecution, leaving it unclear whether that case — also brought by prosecutor Smith — could go to trial before the election.
Source: With information from AFP and AP
