Trump-appointed judge hints she’ll reject Jack Smith’s ‘unrealistic’ classified documents trial date

Theclassified documents case against former president Donald Trump may not begin until late summer or early fall after a federal judge in Florida called Special Counsel Jack Smith’s proposed trial schedule “unrealistic”.

In a hearing on Friday, District Court Judge Aileen Cannon heard from prosecutors in Mr Smith’s office as well as Mr Trump’s attorneys about a proposed start date for the trial against the former president accusing him of willfully retaining classified documents after he left the White House. The trial was originally supposed to begin on May 20th.

Federal prosecutors proposed a start date of July 8th, saying the case could be held over the summer and it would not violate the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) “60-day rule” pertaining to the November presidential election.

But Judge Cannon said that parts of the Special Counsel’s suggested trial schedule were “unrealistic”.

The case, brought by Mr Smith last summer, contains a slew of pretrial motions that Judge Cannon needs to rule on. Additionally, lawyers for the former president want an evidentiary hearing which the judge seemed open to.

“A lot of work needs to be done in the pretrial phase of this case,” Judge Cannon said.

Meanwhile, lawyers for Mr Trump asked the judge to move the trial to August 12th at the very earliest but also suggested the trial shouldn’t begin until after the election – citing the former president’s campaign schedule and other criminal trial in New York.

“A trial that takes place before the election is a mistake and should not happen," Todd Blanche, an attorney for Mr Trump, said.

Friday’s hearing, which Mr Trump attended, ended mid-afternoon with no official date set. Most likely, Judge Cannon’s decision will be announced in a