Former President Donald Trump needs more time to find an expert witness willing to testify on his behalf in his classified documents case.
Trump's defense said it needs a month at least to secure experts. They apparently had one ready to go before the expert notified counsel that they needed to bail.
A three-page court filing submitted Monday night and first reported by Politico reporter Josh Gerstein confirmed the defense requested to push back the deadline for expert disclosures until July 8.
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The original deadline was June 10.
"Defense counsel have been diligently working to identify and engage potential expert witnesses, but the process is not complete," Trump's team said, noting the recent six-week hush money trial in New York City "made the timing of the expert-notice deadline challenging."
Trump, along with his body-man Walt Nauta, and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira stand accused of scheming to conceal the hoarding of classified documents after losing the 2020 election and relocating them from White House to "various locations at The Mar-a-Lago Club including in a ballroom, a bathroom and shower, an office space, his bedroom, and a storage room," according to the indictment.
All three defendants pleaded not guilty.
The request to delay — in a case that has already moved at a snail's pace at the discretion of U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon — was met with widespread frustration and cynicism.
Former New York prosecutor Karen Agnifilo seems to think the case is already lost at sea.
"She should just grant an indefinite extension since the trial is never happening so long as she is the judge," she wrote in regard to Cannon. "Just stop the charade already."
@MimiMelange also tried to bluntly call out the reason for the delay, posting: "He. Has. No. Witnesses."
"Any true expert who sees the evidence is gonna bow out from trying to argue in trump's favor," writes @cjoblonskiwicz.
