Former president Donald Trump's criminal trial in Florida for allegedly mishandling classified documents is being postponed indefinitely.
Trump-appointed judge Aileen Cannon ordered a new pretrial schedule for motions and discovery Tuesday afternoon after the classified documents case was originally scheduled to go to trial later this month.
"The Court also determines that finalization of a trial date at this juncture – before resolution of the myriad and interconnected pre-trial and CIPA issues remaining and forthcoming – would be imprudent and inconsistent with the Court's duty to fully and fairly consider the various pending pre-trial motions before the Court, critical CIPA issues, and additional pretrial and trial preparations necessary to present this case to a jury," Cannon said in her order.
The trial will likely be pushed until after the 2024 presidential election this November. Trump is the presumptive GOP presidential nominee and will face off against incumbent President Joe Biden.
Cannon's decision follows an admission last week by special counsel Jack Smith's team of prosecutors that evidence was rearranged after the FBI raided Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in August 2022. The government previously told Cannon the boxes remained intact.
"There are some boxes where the order of items within that box is not the same as in the associated scans," prosecutors said. "The Government acknowledges that this is inconsistent with what Government counsel previously understood and represented to the Court," they added in a footnote.
House Republicans have launched an investigation into the acknowledgment by Smith's team regarding the evidence being shuffled.
Smith is prosecuting Trump in southern Florida for his alleged mishandling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after his presidency concluded. Classified documents with national defense secrets were contained inside of the boxes Trump repeatedly refused to hand over to the National Archives, according to the federal indictment leveled against him.
Trump is facing 40 charges in the classified documents case after a superseding indictment added three felonies to his total. He is primarily being prosecuted for allegedly willfully retaining national defense information and alleged obstruction of justice.
The delay is the latest setback for Smith's attempt to get Trump to trial before the 2024 election. Smith is also prosecuting Trump in Washington, D.C., for his apparent role in the January 6th, 2021, Capitol riot. The proceedings in D.C. are presently on hold while the Supreme Court weighs Trump's presidential immunity challenge.
Trump's "hush-money" criminal trial in Manhattan, New York is ongoing. Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg is prosecuting Trump for allegedly falsifying business records in connection to a $130,000 payment made by his then-attorney Michael Cohen to a porn actress, Stormy Daniels, ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Cohen was later disbarred after pleading guilty to perjury. He is the prosecution's star witness, and his testimony is expected to take place in the coming days.
Daniels testified on Tuesday and offered salacious details about her alleged affair with Trump. Her allegations offer little new information about the business records. Trump has denied Daniels's claims.
Trump frequently accuses Smith, Bragg, and Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis of carrying out political prosecutions to benefit Biden.
Send a tip to the news team at NR.
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cannon's decision follows an admission last week by Jack Smith's team of prosecutors that evidence was rearranged after the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago.
James Lynch is a News Writer for National Review. He was previously a reporter for the Daily Caller. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and a New York City native.