Reflecting on concerns about Donald Trump's trial date in a Florida courtroom where special counsel Jack Smith will attempt to make the case that the former president stole national defense secret documents and defied efforts by the government to reclaim them, former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance acknowledged that it is very likely the date will get moved and then cautioned to expect a very long delay that could extend until after the 2024 presidential election.
At issue, she explained in her Substack column published on Monday, is the simple fact that federal judges like U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida Judge Aileen Cannon have busy schedules and fitting in what is expected to be a month-long trial is no easy task.
As it stands now, the Trump trial is expected to begin in May of 2024 after the DOJ asked for a December 2023 date.
As Vance explained, finding a block of uninterrupted time won't be easy.
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"If Judge Cannon were to decide that... a delay in the trial date was necessary, it’s unlikely that would mean the trial would get pushed back a few days, or a week," she wrote. "That’s because federal judges don’t usually have big open blocks of time on their calendar."
She added, "Setting a new date would mean looking for open space on the Judge’s calendar. Trump’s lawyers said the trial would take months, but even if we go with the government’s more reasonable suggestion of weeks, a delay could easily move the trial back until after the election."
"While Judge Cannon may have deemed it unnecessary to consider the 2024 election at 'this juncture,' that doesn’t mean she won’t revisit her decision down the road and permit Trump to campaign instead of appear in court. But even mundane delays could derail the speedy trial the Special Counsel has worked so had to obtain here," she concluded.
You can read more here.
