The trial date for the Trump’s charges related to handling classified government documents has been set for August 14 by a federal judge.
A U.S. District Judge, Aileen Cannon, instructed both parties to file pretrial motions by July 24 and set aside two weeks for a trial in the Southern District Court of Florida in Fort Pierce.
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However, she added that the parties could request a trial date extension due to the case’s complexity and issues with classified information, which could delay the start of the trial.
During his arraignment last Wednesday, Trump argued not blameworthy to every one of the 37 government charges at the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. U.S. Town hall in Miami.
Trump is accused of stealing over 300 classified documents from the White House. These documents contained highly sensitive information about an Iranian missile program, Chinese surveillance efforts, and an unidentified foreign power’s nuclear capabilities.
The indictment includes
- additional charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice,
- withholding and concealing documents,
- making false statements to investigators, and
- willfully retaining top-secret national security documents.
Trump could face up to ten years in prison for keeping secrets related to national security if he is found guilty of these charges.
Walt Nauta, the longtime valet, and aide of the former president, is also accused of moving the boxes in which Trump kept classified documents. Additionally, Nauta denied guilt.
Trump and Nauta face five charges of obstructing justice and concealing documents. The charges of obstructing justice carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, while the charges of concealing documents carry a maximum sentence of five years. Additionally, each faces a separate count of making false statements, with a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
According to Jack Smith, the special counsel for the Justice Department in charge of the case, the scheduled date of the Judge places the case on track for a quick trial.
Cannon, a conservative who has been a member of the Federalist Society since 2005, was the Judge in a case that Trump brought after the government found the documents in a raid of his South Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago. According to a recent survey by The New York Times, she has only spent 14 days in a criminal trial on the federal bench.
When Cannon issued a ruling last year that would have delayed the Trump investigation and asserted that the former president should enjoy special protections not otherwise provided to individuals targeted by a search warrant, she was met with widespread ridicule, and the 11th Circuit overturned her decision.
A federal magistrate judge issued an order on Monday prohibiting Trump’s defense attorneys from disclosing any evidence they obtain from prosecutors in the case to the media or the general public.
Another trial involving hush money paid to adult film actress Stormy Daniels when Trump ran for president for the first time will occur on March 25, 2024, in New York.
