Judge Aileen Cannon Friday set a May 20, 2024 trial date for former President Donald Trump in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case.
The controversial Trump-appointed jurist slapped down Trump’s demand that she suspend the trial until after the 2024 presidential election.
But Cannon also pushed back on special counsel Jack Smith’s claim that the case could start before the end of the year.
“The Court rejects (Trump’s) request to withhold setting of a schedule now ... and does not see a sufficient basis on this record to postpone entry of a scheduling order,” Cannon wrote in a seven-page order.
Cannon said the Trump case is “complex” and will require a lengthy schedule of pretrial motions and possibly litigation over the handling of dozens of classified documents that are prime pieces of evidence in the case.
She handed down a detailed schedule of 24 hearings starting in October and stretching up to the May trial date.
Cannon did not even mention Trump’s argument it was unfair to put him on trial while he is running to return to the White House.
Trump pleaded not guilty last month to a 37-count federal indictment charging him with mishandling classified documents and defying a subpoena demanding their return.
He took hundreds of classified documents with him when he left the White House in January 2021 and stashed them at his Mar-a-Lago waterfront resort home. Trump’s loyal bodyman, Walt Nauta, is also facing charges of helping Trump hide the documents from prosecutors.