Delays in Walt Nauta’s arraignment could hurt Jack Smith’s plans for Donald Trump’s trial

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Donald Trump’s co-defendant in the classified documents case, Walt Nauta, is due to be arraigned today. That arraignment is finally scheduled to happen Thursday, but these slight delays could add up to a case where timing is everything.

Remember, Judge Aileen Cannon initially set a trial date for August. But as I mentioned at the time, the start date was never going to happen. Instead, special counsel Jack Smith’s December request is probably the earliest realistic date and even that is far from certain.

While Trump was arraigned in Miami nearly a month ago, Nautas’ arraignment was delayed so he could get a proper lawyer. The Trump aide needs a lawyer admitted to the Florida federal district where he and the former president are indicted. But last week, when Nauta was scheduled to be arraigned after an initial delay, he still didn’t have a proper lawyer, and the arraignment was pushed back again, until Thursday.

Thursday was supposed to be the date by which Trump had to respond to Smith’s December trial date request. But with Nautas’ latest delay, Cannon on Friday pushed back the response deadline to July 10. Given the previously dubious involvement of Trump-appointed judges in the trial before Trump was indicted, it’s always reasonable to wonder whether any of the his steps in the criminal case were legal. suspected.

It’s still early, but Cannon hasn’t done anything in the criminal case that, under precedent, would warrant his dismissal and it’s hard to see how his return to the defense response date a few days later changes that. But, as Nauta is scheduled to finally be arraigned this week, how he responds to any further delay attempts will be telling as will his reaction to the defendants’ response to Smith’s December trial date request, in once they are weighed.

How far past December the defendants sought to push the trial and what Cannon allowed could shed light on how much Nautas’ pre-arraignment delay helped the defense.

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