Donald Trump wants to delay the trial on classified documents until after the 2024 election

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Donald Trump is now seeking to delay his federal criminal trial until after the 2024 election, citing his status as a presidential candidate and other legal arguments that experts say have no basis in fact. that law.

In a court filing in Miami late Monday, Mr Trumps lawyers asked the judge to postpone indefinitely his trial on charges over his handling of classified documents, saying that because of the extraordinary nature of case it is not possible to try it before the presidential election.

In the 12-page filing, they call the government’s case against him extraordinary and say it poses a serious challenge to both the truth and the vision of our American democracy as Mr Trump seeks his party’s nomination to run against the incumbent. president who defeated him in 2020, Joe Biden.

The Court is now presiding over a prosecution brought by the administration of a sitting President against his main political rival, himself a leading candidate for the Presidency of the United States. Therefore, a measured consideration and timeline that allows for a careful and complete review of the procedures that led to this indictment and the unprecedented legal issues presented here best serve the interests of Defendants and the public, they said.

While prosecutors asked Judge Aileen Cannon to set a trial date of December 11, the former president opposed that request on the grounds that starting a trial of this magnitude within six months of the indictment was unreasonable, saying, and will result in miscarriage. of justice for him and his co-defendant, longtime aide Walt Nauta.

In a brief order issued shortly after Mr Trump’s arraignment last month, Judge Cannon set a trial date for August 14, but Special Counsel Jack Smith later asked for a four-month delay of the former president and his co-defendant who now objected.

Instead, Mr Trump is seeking an indefinite delay in the proceedings against him.

Based on the extraordinary nature of this action, there is absolutely no reason for any expedited trial, and the ends of justice are best served by a proceeding, his attorneys wrote in Monday’s filing.

The Court shall, respectfully, before establishing any trial date, allow time for the development of more clarity about the full nature and scope of the motions to be filed, a better understanding of a factual discovery and pre-trial timeline, and the completion of the security clearance process, they said, adding later that the trial should also be delayed because Mr Trump’s presidential campaign requires an enormous amount of time and energy, and makes test preparation is too difficult.

Mr Trump’s lawyers also said the case raises important legal questions that could see the case dismissed long before trial, and suggested in their filing that they plan to argue that Mr Trump declared the document in question, challenging the constitutionality of the Classified Information Procedures Act. used the law to allow classified evidence in criminal trials and they even suggest that it will be impossible to select an impartial jury during the 2024 election.

Continuing the litigation during a pending Presidential election cycle where opposing candidates are effectively (if not literally) directly at odds with each other in this action will create unusual challenges in the selection process. of the jury and limits the defendants’ ability to obtain a fair and impartial verdict, they said, citing a Justice Department policy that warns against taking prosecutorial action for the purpose of influencing an election or assisting a candidate or party even though that policy pertains only to investigations and indictments, not the conduct of criminal cases already brought. .

The former president’s former lawyers have suggested they intend to repeat the baseless legal claims advanced by Mr Trump on his Truth Social page, similar to the argument that under the Presidential Records Act and a 2012 court precedent regarding the tapes owned by former president Bill Clinton, he had the right to keep the documents at issue in this case.

Contrary to the Governments statement regarding the nature of the legal issues in this matter … this case presents novel, complex, and unique legal issues, most of which are matters of first impression. As noted above, this Court will need to examine the intersection between the Presidential Records Act … and the various criminal statutes that form the basis of the indictment. These would be questions of first impression for any court in the United States, and their resolution would affect the necessity, scope, and timing of any trial, they said.

Going forward, they also said they plan to challenge the constitutionality of the Espionage Act under which Mr Trump is being prosecuted, as well as Mr Smith’s ability to prosecute a former president.

Mr Smith’s office has not yet responded to the filing.

Last month, Mr Trump was indicted on 37 federal charges over his handling of classified documents, including national defense information, after leaving the White House.

The indictment, which was unsealed on Friday (9 June), alleges that Mr Trump knowingly lied and deceived authorities so he could get hold of documents he knew were classified.

On at least two separate occasions, Mr Trump showed some of the classified documents to people who were not authorized to see them, the indictment alleges.

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event, Saturday, July 8, 2023, in Las Vegas

(Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

The stunning photos revealed that many of the documents were stored around a bathroom, shower and ballroom at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

The charges include 31 counts of willfully withholding national defense information and one count of false statements and representations, and counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document or record, corruptly concealing a document, concealment of a document in a federal investigation and a procedure. to hide.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges at his arraignment in a Miami federal courthouse, becoming the first current or former US president to be charged with a federal crime.

Mr Trumps longtime aide Walt Nauta was also charged with six obstruction- and concealment-related charges after he allegedly helped move boxes of documents from Mar-a-Lago to Mr Trump’s residence and then lied to the investigator about having any knowledge of handling the papers.

The two men appeared in court together but Mr Nauta did not enter a plea because he did not have legal counsel in Florida.

Mr Nauta appeared for his arraignment last week where he pleaded not guilty.

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