Busted: Expert says Trump is not complying with the 'spirit' of judge's order

A tug-of-war over landing on a start date for former President Donald Trump's criminal trial where he's accused of stashing classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago club is dancing around the Florida federal judge's concerns that any date could find itself in gridlock with Trump's 2020 election subversion trial in Washington.

U.S. district judge Aileen Cannon didn't deliberately speak to the dates she had in mind, but made clear she wanted to push back the tentative May 20 trial further down the road.

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As both sides prepare for a hearing to hash it out, Special Counsel Jack Smith requested July 8 to kick off a trial.

Meanwhile, Trump's lawyers attempting to claim that any trial in 2024 would be pointless, writing: "a fair trial cannot be conducted this year in a manner consistent with the Constitution."

But they hedged slightly and would respect the court's decision either way.

"As the leading candidate in the 2024 election, President Trump strongly asserts that a fair trial cannot be conducted this year in a manner consistent with the Constitution," his attorneys wrote. "Nevertheless, of course, President Trump respects that the Court issued an Order directing the parties to submit scheduling proposals," according to their filing.

Former federal prosecutor Lisa Rubin called the response by Trump's legal team as a crafty way to try to oppose Judge Cannon's scheduling prep requests without directly flouting them.

"At first, I was surprised Trump was not asking for an outright stay," she posted in a thread on Twitter/X. "But then, I slowed down and read their submission and realized two things."

"First, they are complying with the letter of Cannon's order to submit a proposed schedule--but not its spirit."

Rubin then went on to say that they shrugged their shoulders by acknowledging the trial could still happen this year.

She wrote: "And then and only then does Trump grudingly say he respects the Court's direction to submit a proposed schedule, but one that must, of course, also take account of the SCOTUS presidential immunity case."