U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon effectively eliminated the possibility that former President Donald Trump could go to trial in July for allegedly mishandling classified documents.
In an order on Wednesday, Cannon said Trump had until May 9 to disclose which classified documents he would use for his defense.
Guardian reporter Hugo Lowell pointed out that special counsel Jack Smith had proposed March 18 for Trump to file his notice under Section 5 of the Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA).
"That’s not an unreasonable length of time to give Trump — it’s typical to give defendants in NatSec cases several weeks to draft their Sec 5 notice so it’s sufficiently specific. But a May 9 deadline might be frustrating for the Special Counsel," Lowell wrote on X.
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"Special Counsel proposed March 18 deadline for Trump to file his Sec 5 notice, in order to get to a July 2024 trial," he added. "No way that is happening now, given deadline is 7 weeks later. But she also didn’t give Trump the June 17 deadline he wanted — so no 11th Circuit ammo either."
Trump faces 37 criminal charges related to the illegal retention of classified documents at his Florida estate after leaving office in 2021.
The charges include violations of the Espionage Act, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and making false statements to investigators. The most serious among these are 31 counts under the Espionage Act, which could lead to up to 10 years in prison for each count.
Cannon has yet to set a date for the trial.