The official start of the trial against the former US President Donald Trump in the affair surrounding the taking of secret government documents has been postponed indefinitely. The previously planned start of the trial on May 20th has been cancelled, the responsible judge Aileen Cannon announced in a letter on Tuesday. The reason for this are open legal questions. It is therefore unlikely that the process will begin before the presidential election in November.
Last year, a so-called grand jury of jurors agreed to indict Trump. The Indictment against Trump includes 37 points; 31 of them fall under the Espionage Act, the US espionage law. The former president is also accused of, among other things, participating in a conspiracy to obstruct justice and making false statements. Trump is the first former (or sitting) president to be charged at the federal level.
Illegal storage of secret documents
In this case, Trump is accused of illegally storing highly sensitive information from his time as president (2017 to 2021). In August 2022, the FBI federal police searched Trump’s villa in Florida and confiscated several sets of documents classified as top secret. Trump is also accused of conspiring to obstruct the investigation: He is said to have tried to have material disappear from surveillance cameras and have boxes of documents taken away with the help of employees.
Trump is also said to have kept secret documents carelessly and unlocked on his property in Florida. The Justice Department released photos of boxes stacked around the toilet, including on the marble floor of one of Trump’s bathrooms. They almost reached the chandelier. Trump apparently also showed two documents to other people without the appropriate security clearance; they contained plans for an attack on Iran and a military map.
The responsible judge sees legal questions that still need to be clarified
Judge Cannon, who is responsible for the documents process, was once appointed by Trump. Critics accuse her of dragging out the process and processing applications in slow motion. As justification for postponing the start of the trial, Cannon wrote that setting a trial date at this point would be “ill-advised.” There are too many open legal questions that still need to be clarified. It would take appropriate preparation and time to treat this fully and fairly in order to present this case to a jury.
The current decision is a success for the Republican, as he is trying to delay the start of the trial as much as possible in the course of the presidential election campaign. Trump currently has to answer before a court in New York in connection with hush money payments to a porn actress.
The official start of the trial against the former US President Donald Trump in the affair surrounding the taking of secret government documents has been postponed indefinitely. The previously planned start of the trial on May 20th has been cancelled, the responsible judge Aileen Cannon announced in a letter on Tuesday. The reason for this are open legal questions. It is therefore unlikely that the process will begin before the presidential election in November.
Last year, a so-called grand jury of jurors agreed to indict Trump. The Indictment against Trump includes 37 points; 31 of them fall under the Espionage Act, the US espionage law. The former president is also accused of, among other things, participating in a conspiracy to obstruct justice and making false statements. Trump is the first former (or sitting) president to be charged at the federal level.