Current:Home > MyTrump’s lawyers seek to postpone his classified documents trial until after the 2024 election-DB Wealth Institute B2 Expert Reviews
Trump’s lawyers seek to postpone his classified documents trial until after the 2024 election
View Date:2025-01-12 17:47:58
WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawyers for former President Donald Trump have asked a judge to postpone his classified documents trial until after next year’s presidential election, saying they have not received all the records they need to review to prepare his defense.
The trial on charges of illegally hoarding classified documents, among four criminal cases the Republican former president is facing, is currently scheduled for May 20, 2024, in Florida.
In a motion filed late Wednesday, Trump’s lawyers urged U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to push back the trial until at least mid-November 2024. The presidential election is set for Nov. 5, 2024, with Trump currently leading the GOP field in the months before the primary season.
The defense lawyers argued that a postponement was necessary because of scheduling conflicts — another federal trial is scheduled for March 2024 in Washington, and one of Trump’s attorneys, Christopher Kise, is also representing him in an ongoing civil fraud trial in New York — and because of what they say are delays in obtaining and reviewing the classified records cited in special counsel Jack Smith’s indictment.
“The Special Counsel’s Office has not provided some of the most basic discovery in the case,” said the motion from Kise and another Trump attorney, Todd Blanche. “Given the current schedule, we cannot understate the prejudice to President Trump arising from his lack of access to these critical materials months after they should have been produced.”
The defense lawyers said they have access to only a “small, temporary facility” in Miami to review classified documents, an arrangement that they say has slowed the process.
Prosecutors with the special counsel last week suggested that the Trump team was seeking unreasonable delays in the case. Though they acknowledged a “slightly longer than anticipated timeframe” for certain procedural steps, the prosecutors said it was false to accuse them of delaying the production of evidence in the case.
They said some of the delays were beyond their control and were due in part to the fact that defense lawyers had lacked the “necessary read-ins to review all material” provided by the government.
The Justice Department says it has so far provided about 1.28 million pages of unclassified documents and has turned over the majority of classified evidence that it anticipates producing. By Friday, prosecutors said, they will provide much of the remaining outstanding classified evidence.
“This production will include certain materials that Defendants have described as outstanding, including audio recordings of interviews and information related to the classification reviews conducted in the case,” prosecutors wrote.
The indictment accuses Trump of illegally retaining at his Palm Beach, Florida, estate, Mar-a-Lago, reams of classified documents taken with him after he left the White House in 2021 and then repeatedly obstructing government efforts to get the records back. He has pleaded not guilty and has denied any wrongdoing.
The defense lawyers say Trump’s two co-defendants in the case, his valet Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira, are joining in the request.
___
Follow Eric Tucker on X at http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP.
veryGood! (44639)
Related
- Why Game of Thrones' Maisie Williams May Be Rejoining the George R.R. Martin Universe
- North Korea has likely sent missiles as well as ammunition and shells to Russia, Seoul says
- 1 man dead in Kentucky building collapse that trapped 2, governor says
- Defendant in Tupac Shakur killing loses defense lawyer ahead of arraignment on murder charge
- In bizarro world, Tennessee plays better defense, and Georgia's Kirby Smart comes unglued
- Bankrupt and loving it: Welcome to the lucrative world of undead brands
- Philadelphia prison escape unnoticed because of unrepaired fence, sleeping guard, prosecutor says
- Realtors must pay home sellers $1.8 billion for inflating commissions, jury finds
- Question of a lifetime: Families prepare to confront 9/11 masterminds
- Court fights invoking US Constitution’s ‘insurrection clause’ against Trump turn to Minnesota
Ranking
- Bill on school bathroom use by transgender students clears Ohio Legislature, heads to governor
- With flowers, altars and candles, Mexicans are honoring deceased relatives on the Day of the Dead
- LSU and Tulane are getting $22 million to lead group effort to save the Mississippi River Delta
- Philadelphia prison escape unnoticed because of unrepaired fence, sleeping guard, prosecutor says
- Advocacy group sues Tennessee over racial requirements for medical boards
- Cornell University student Patrick Dai arrested for posting antisemitic threats online
- Fantasy football rankings for Week 9: Dolphins' Raheem Mostert rises to top spot among RBs
- Supreme Court appears skeptical of allowing Trump Too Small trademark
Recommendation
-
Minnesota county to pay $3.4M to end lawsuit over detainee’s death
-
Mega Millions winning numbers for Oct. 31: See if you won the $159 million jackpot
-
Chase Young trade is latest blockbuster pulled off by 49ers' John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan
-
Israeli envoy to Russia says Tel Aviv passengers hid from weekend airport riot in terminal
-
Wicked Director Jon M. Chu Reveals Name of Baby Daughter After Missing Film's LA Premiere for Her Birth
-
Philadelphia prison escape unnoticed because of unrepaired fence, sleeping guard, prosecutor says
-
Harris and Sunak due to discuss cutting-edge AI risks at UK summit
-
Man charged with killing Tupac Shakur in Vegas faces murder arraignment without hiring an attorney