What’s good news for Donald Trump and his legal team isn’t necessarily such great news for the Republican party.
That’s according to a Washington Post analysis of the political implications of U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon’s Friday announcement of a May 20, 2024 start date for Trump’s trial in the Florida classified documents case.
The Post’s Aaron Blake notes in a piece published under the headline “Trump’s trial date conjures GOP’s nightmare scenario” that with some exceptions party nominations are typically decided in March and April, and that Republican National Committee rules require every state to hold nominating contests by May 31.
Trump is already facing numerous criminal and civil cases in the coming months and others loom. The former president is being investigated by the Department of Justice in connection with efforts to overturn the 2020 election and in Georgia on allegations of election interference.
Trump’s lawyers had sought the Florida case to be held after the 2024 elections, but Blake writes that Cannon’s May 20 court date “means the issue won’t dog Trump as much as he attempts to secure the GOP nomination. And his campaign insisted afterward that it was happy, spinning the date as a ‘major setback’ for the Justice Department."
But Blake writes that for the GOP “it’s far less welcome news. Indeed, it raises the prospect of what’s more or less a nightmare scenario.”
The report notes that the case could still be delayed until after the election, but that a trial late in the primary season would mean Republican voters would have already selected their nominee after the trial and before the general election.
“Trump might still face some adverse verdicts before then — as he did in the first (E. Jean) Carroll civil case. But if he’s convicted of any felonies, it will most likely come long after the point of no return for the party in its nominating contest.”
