By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON and ERIC TUCKER (Associated Press)
FORT PIERCE, Fla. (AP) — A federal choose signaled Tuesday that December could also be too quickly to start former President Donald Trump’s landmark prison trial regarding the mishandling of labeled paperwork, however didn’t say whether or not she would conform to Trump’s request to place the trial off till after the 2024 election.
Judge Aileen Cannon mentioned she would challenge a written order “promptly” after the almost two-hour listening to in federal courtroom in Fort Pierce, Florida, the place attorneys for Trump pressed for an indefinite delay of a trial date.
Trump’s attorneys say they want extra time to organize for what they describe as a fancy case with an enormous quantity of proof to assessment. They additionally argue the previous president can’t get a good trial forward of the 2024 election, by which he’s looking for to reclaim the White House.
Prosecutors have proposed that the trial start in December, saying the case will not be advanced and there’s no want for a prolonged delay. Prosecutor David Harbach advised the choose that Trump’s authorized workforce has repeatedly urged he must be handled in a different way as a result of he’s operating for president.
“He should be treated like anybody else,” Harbach mentioned. “He is not different than any other busy, important person.”
It was the primary time arguments have been held in entrance of Cannon within the unprecedented federal prosecution of the previous president, who can be dealing with costs in a separate case in New York. Cannon has been underneath elevated scrutiny since a courtroom ruling final yr that critics mentioned was unduly favorable to Trump.
Trump’s co-defendant, Walt Nauta, attended the listening to, however Trump didn’t. He was touring Tuesday to Iowa, the place he was taping a city corridor with Fox News host Sean Hannity.
Todd Blanche, considered one of Trump’s attorneys, mentioned he disagreed with the prosecution’s view that this case must be handled like another due to his place because the main candidate seeking to run towards President Joe Biden. His workforce requested the choose to attend till after the election, arguing they consider the circumstances to ensure a good trial would enhance by then.
“It is intellectually dishonest to say this case is like any other case,” Blanche mentioned. “It is not.”
Harbach rejected insinuations by the protection workforce that the Biden administration was pursuing circumstances towards Trump as a result of he’s a number one opposition candidate, saying there was “no political influence.” “No one in our team is a political appointee,” he mentioned, noting that they’re all profession prosecutors.
The choose stored urgent Trump’s layers to set some dates and a extra concrete timetable, acknowledging she did perceive they wanted extra time to assessment paperwork and photographs.
“We need to set a timetable,” Cannon mentioned. “Some deadlines can be established now.”
But she additionally questioned prosecutors on whether or not there have been different related circumstances involving labeled paperwork tried in such a short while body.
The courtroom date unfolded hours after Trump disclosed that he had obtained a goal letter from the Justice Department in a separate investigation into efforts by him and his allies to overturn the outcomes of the 2020 presidential election. Such letters typically precede an indictment.
Trump and Nauta have pleaded not responsible to a 38-count indictment that accuses them of conspiring to cover labeled paperwork from Justice Department investigators that have been taken from the White House to Mar-a-Lago on the finish of Trump’s time in workplace in January 2021.
Cannon additionally presided over a lawsuit that the Trump workforce filed final yr over the August 2022 FBI search of Mar-a-Lago. Cannon drew criticism and second-guessing from authorized specialists for granting Trump’s request for a particular grasp to conduct an unbiased assessment of the labeled paperwork eliminated by the FBI from Mar-a-Lago.
A 3-judge federal appeals courtroom later overruled that order and mentioned she had lacked the authority for such a ruling.
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Tucker reported from Washington.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”