U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon ruled on Tuesday that former President Donald Trump’s classified documents trial is indefinitely postponed because of legal issues and deadlines involving the use of classified evidence at trial.
The former president had been scheduled to go on trial in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s federal criminal case against him in two weeks on May 20.
Cannon, who was appointed by Trump in 2020, said in her order that the trial would no longer begin on May 20 and she did not set a new date.
“The Court also determines that finalization of a trial date at this juncture—before resolution of the myriad and interconnected pre-trial and [Classified Information Procedures Act] issues remaining and forthcoming—would be imprudent and inconsistent with the Court’s duty to fully and fairly consider the various pending pre-trial motions before the Court, critical CIPA issues, and additional pretrial and trial preparations necessary to present this case to a jury,” Cannon wrote.
The move threatens to derail the case as it increases the likelihood that it does not go to trial until after the presidential election in November. If Trump were to win, it is widely expected that his Department of Justice will dismiss the case.
Trump is currently on criminal trial in New York State for alleged hush money payments made to an adult film star during the 2016 presidential election.
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He faces a separate federal criminal case from Smith in Washington, D.C., involving allegations that he tried to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. That case is currently awaiting a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court about whether Trump has presidential immunity from prosecution.
Trump faces a fourth criminal trial in Fulton County, Georgia, over allegations that he tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election.