The trial will begin Aug. 14 “or as soon as the case is called,” according to Cannon, the judge appointed by Trump to preside over it, and will last two weeks.
Experts doubt such a short delay given that both parties are likely to request delays in order to have enough time to prepare for trial, despite the fact that the particular district where the case is being heard is known for its quick deliberations.
On Tuesday, Cannon urged the prosecution and defense to submit any pretrial motions by July 24. The trial will take place at the courthouse in Fort Pierce, Fla., where Cannon, 42, usually serves as a lawyer.
If the trial begins on August 14 or soon after, it may fall on August 23, the day of the first Republican debate. Trump, the clear front-runner in the 2024 nomination race, has not committed to participate. Regardless of the outcome of any legal proceedings, he has pledged to stay in the game.
Asked about the documents affair, more than a dozen of Trump’s GOP rivals responded in a variety of ways, from urging him to drop out of the race to promising to pardon him if he wins.
According to the unsealed indictment, federal prosecutors charged Trump, 77, with 37 counts of keeping secret documents at Mar-a-Lago, his exclusive club and home in Palm Beach, in Florida, after leaving office.
False statements and obstruction of justice are two of the counts, both of which carry lengthy prison sentences.
The 31 documents which are the subject of the allegations of the indictment lack precise content. According to the indictment, the files contain information about US nuclear programs and “potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to military attack.”
As a designated judge, Cannon will have the power to direct the course of the case. It will decide whether to dismiss all or part of the charges before the case goes to trial, select the jurors and determine the volume of evidence and legal arguments that the lawyers can present to the jury.
She will also be responsible for deciding Trump’s sentence if a jury convicts him.
In a decision that was harshly criticized last year, Cannon ruled that a special master, a neutral arbitrator, should review the records the FBI seized from Mar-a-Lago. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the decision in a harsh opinion.
On June 13, during his arraignment in Miami, Trump pleaded not guilty. U.S. Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman ordered the prosecution to compile a list of witnesses Trump could not speak to directly without going through his attorneys.
Trump claimed he didn’t return the boxes of documents because he had been “very busy” and wanted to sort them to separate his belongings in an interview with Fox News that aired Monday.
This is Trump’s second active criminal investigation. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office filed a 34-count indictment against him in April, alleging he wrongfully forged business records by paying adult film actress Stormy Daniels to of influencing the 2016 presidential election. In this case, Trump pleaded not guilty and denied having an affair.