Judge Aileen Cannon signals 2024 election won’t be deciding factor on Trump trial date
“We feel it is very important that we have a trial date to work from, realizing that the trial date may not be set in stone,” said Jay Bratt, the Chief of the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.
Such a schedule may depend on whether the cases against Trump and Nauta are labeled complex, a designation that the government has opposed. Cannon appeared inclined to find that it was, pressing prosecutors on whether any similar Espionage Act case had such an ambitious schedule. Bratt appeared to concede that he couldn’t find one, though he added that Trump’s case was different from the fold in an important aspect. The evidence has been available for nearly a year, since the FBI searched and seized the documents at issue in the case in August 2022.
Pressing both the government and the defense, Cannon similarly showed little interest in basing her ultimate decision on waiting until the November 2024 election has passed.
“I can appreciate that more time is necessary, but we need to set a schedule,” Cannon told Trump’s attorney, Todd Blanche, early in the afternoon session. [Continue reading…]