(Washington) Donald Trump’s lawyers are asking that the trial in which the former US president is accused of having kept classified documents after leaving the White House be postponed until after the 2024 presidential election.
The trial in Florida, one of four criminal cases in which Mr. Trump is currently charged, is scheduled to begin on May 20, 2024.
However, in a motion filed Wednesday evening, Mr. Trump’s lawyers urged Judge Aileen Cannon to delay the start of the trial until at least mid-November 2024.
They argued that the trial cannot begin in May because of a scheduling conflict – Mr. Trump is due for another trial in Washington in March – and because there is a delay in the process obtaining and reviewing classified documents cited in Special Prosecutor Jack Smith’s indictment.
“The Special Counsel’s Office has failed to provide some of the most fundamental documents in the case,” Mr. Trump’s lawyers, Christopher Kise and Todd Blanche, denounced in their request.
“Given the current timeline, we cannot underestimate the harm caused to President Trump that his team has still not received important documents that should have been produced months ago. »
A trial starting in mid-November 2024 would mean it would take place after the presidential election, which is scheduled for November 5. Mr. Trump is currently the favorite in the race for the Republican nomination.
For their part, prosecutors in the case warned last week that Mr. Trump’s team would seek to unreasonably delay the start of the trial.
Although they acknowledged a “slightly longer delay than expected” for some stages of the disclosure of the evidence, prosecutors said it was wrong to accuse them of seeking to slow down the process.
The Justice Department says it has so far provided about 1.28 million pages of unclassified documents and has turned over the majority of the classified evidence it plans to produce to the court. Most of the remaining classified evidence is expected to be turned over to the defense by Friday.
In this case, Mr. Trump is accused of illegally retaining tons of classified documents that he took with him after leaving the White House in 2021.
Most of these documents were stored at his estate in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
The ex-president is also accused of having repeatedly obstructed the federal government’s efforts to recover the documents in question. He has pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing.