6 months ago
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NEW DELHI: Former US President Donald Trump's trial in Florida, where he faces charges of illegally keeping classified documents after his presidency ended, was indefinitely postponed by US District
Judge Aileen Cannon
on Tuesday.
Originally, Trump's trial in the
documents case
, brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith, was set to begin on May 20. However, both the prosecution and defense acknowledged that this date would need to be postponed.
Judge Cannon, appointed to the bench by Trump in 2020, confirmed the trial would not start on May 20 but did not provide a new date. Instead, she scheduled pre-trial hearings to continue through July 22.
Trump has entered a plea of not guilty to 40
federal counts
, which accuse him of "retaining sensitive national security documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after leaving office in 2021 and obstructing US government efforts to retrieve them." As the Republican candidate challenging Democratic President Joe Biden, who defeated him in the previous election, Trump faces significant challenges.
Smith encounters substantial obstacles in getting either federal case against Trump to trial before the election. Cannon has yet to make rulings on several critical legal issues in the documents case and has indicated support for Trump's defense on some matters. Trump's lawyers had argued for a trial date after the election, but also suggested August 12 in response to Cannon's order to propose a timeline. Smith, on the other hand, proposed a July start date.
Randall Eliason, a law professor at George Washington University and an expert in white-collar criminal cases, commented on the unprecedented situation, stating, "We're in this absolutely unprecedented situation where a defendant is potentially going to have the power to shut down his own prosecution. That's an argument for getting the case to trial before the election."
In addition to the federal cases, Trump has been on trial in New York state court since April 15, facing charges of unlawfully seeking to conceal hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. He has also been charged in Georgia state court over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election results.
(With inputs on agencies)
