Miami: A Florida judge on Tuesday adjourned a criminal case against Donald Trump over alleged mishandling of classified documents, preventing the case from going to trial before November’s presidential election.
The former president was scheduled to be arraigned on May 20, but District Judge Eileen Cannon said that was unlikely because of the background of the case.
Cannon, who appointed Trump, did not set a new date for the federal hearing.
The delay is a major setback for special counsel Jack Smith, who brought the charges against Trump, and suggests the case could be heard less than six months before Trump’s election as the Republican nominee for president.
Trump’s lawyers are trying to delay the various criminal charges until after the election, when federal charges against the 77-year-old Trump could be dropped if he wins.
Trump is currently on trial in New York for allegedly falsifying employment records to pay porn stars in the run-up to the 2016 Presidential Election.
Trump pleaded not guilty last June to federal charges in Florida of illegally withholding national defense information, obstruction of justice and making false statements.
He kept classified files, including Pentagon, Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency records, insecure at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida and thwarted official efforts to retrieve them, according to the indictment.
Cannon said in his order that there were too many pretrial motions and the confidential nature of some of the evidence in the case could not proceed until the May trial date.
“Therefore, the Court has set aside the hearing date of May 20, 2024.”
In addition to the New York and Florida incidents, Trump has been accused in Washington and Georgia of trying to change the outcome of the 2020 election of his likely opponent in November, Democrat Joe Biden.
