Trump's legal team will not have a fair trial before the election closes in November. Photo: Steven Senn.
Donald Trump will stand trial for allegedly mishandling classified documents in the midst of the 2024 election campaign. p>
Former president's lawyers have pushed for the case to be shelved indefinitely due to the “problems” Mr. Trump will face in manipulating both the criminal trial and the November election.
But Judge Eileen Cannon has set a start date for May 20, 2024 in Fort Pierce, Fla., meaning the Republican leader will face a jury halfway through what is likely to be a bitter battle with Joe Biden. The trial is expected to last two weeks.
Time will likely corroborate Trump's claims that the indictment is nothing more than a “witch hunt” and “election interference.”
Trump, 77, faces 37 charges in connection with hundreds of confidential documents found at his Mar-a-Lago estate. Only two counts of the charge provide for a sentence of imprisonment for less than 10 years. Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges during his arraignment last month.
Prosecutors, led by Special Counsel Jack Smith, wanted the trial to begin in December.
Trump's legal team argued that the case was “extraordinary” and they needed more time to prepare. They also said that Mr. Trump will not be given a fair trial until after the November 2024 election.
Ms. Trump's nominee Ms. Cannon has chosen a date weeks before the GOP national convention in July, when the party's presidential nominee will be formally crowned.
Most state primaries will be completed by mid-May, but a few votes will pass on May 14 and beyond.
The jury will be selected from a local area that includes several counties that Trump won in 2020.
A classified document trial is just one of a blizzard of legal challenges Trump has faced.
In April, he was charged with falsifying business records in New York, allegedly in an attempt to hide cash payments to pornographic actress Stormy Daniels.
Earlier on this page Trump said this week that he expects an imminent arrest in connection with a federal investigation into the US Capitol riots two years ago and his attempt to challenge the 2020 election results.
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