Trump asked the judge to delay the start of his trial over the classified documents

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Updated July 11, 2023 at 7:38 AM ET

Former President Donald Trump is asking a judge to delay setting a trial date in his classified documents case, citing the extraordinary nature of a prosecution that could happen during the 2024 presidential race and what his lawyers as complex legal issues.

In a court filing late Monday, Trump’s lawyers cited the “substantial amount” of materials they must review in the case, which charges Trump and his valet with conspiring to obstruct a federal investigation into by hiding high-end materials that Trump stored in a bathroom and a ballroom at his Florida resort. Those papers included secrets about the defense and weapons capabilities of the US government and its allies, according to the indictment.

Trump is the first former president to face federal charges from a government he once led, a fact attorneys Christopher Kise and Todd Blanche highlighted in their request for a delay. Among other complications, he said, is the challenge of selecting a jury during the 2024 presidential race, in which Trump is running against the current president, Joe Biden.

“There is no question that any trial of this action during the pendency of a Presidential election would affect both the outcome of that election and, importantly, the Defendants’ ability to obtain a fair trial,” Kise and Blanche wrote .

Trump’s lawyers also used the filing to outline some of their next steps in the case, including a likely motion to dismiss the charges; legal challenges to the special counsel’s authority; and investigating the nature of the documents themselves and whether they are properly classified.

Courts have established longstanding and specialized procedures for handling classified materials. But Trump’s team has indicated it will fight any government bid to keep some evidence secret.

“Generally, Defendants believe that there should be no ‘secret’ evidence, or any facts withheld from public view in connection with the prosecution of a leading Presidential candidate by his political opponent,” they wrote. “Our democracy requires at least full transparency.”

Special counsel Jack Smith is asking for a trial to begin on December 11, telling the court it could last about three weeks, in total.

But Trump’s lawyers wrote that the schedule “is simply unsustainable and ignores the magnitude of this case.” They said they needed more time to prepare a defense at trial and argued “there is no ongoing threat to national security interests or any concerns about continued criminal activity.”

Trump and his longtime aide, Walt Nauta, have both pleaded not guilty to charges in the Florida case. Nauta’s lawyers, Stanley Woodward and Sasha Dadan, endorsed the delay in the trial.

Ultimately, it will be up to US District Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed to the bench by Trump, to decide the timing of the case.

Trump faces other major legal problems, including a civil trial in New York this October and a criminal trial in New York in March 2024 on charges brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg over hush payments money that Trump allegedly directed to an adult movie star.

He is also under investigation by a prosecutor in Fulton County, Ga., as well as by federal grand juries in Washington for attempts to subvert the 2020 election.

The former president told interviewers he would consider issuing pardons for many of the rioters who attacked the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and some of them center around his campaign appearances. During his tenure, Trump also raised questions about a president’s ability to pardon himself, according to news reports since then.

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