Aileen Cannon Crushes Donald Trump's Hopes

Judge Aileen Cannon has denied former President Donald Trump's request to delay his trial in the Mar-a-Lago confidential documents case, for the time being.

Cannon, a Trump appointee, agreed on Friday to keep the May 20, 2024, trial date in the Florida case, but said she would revisit the date in early March after discovery. She moved some pretrial dates, but those will not have major impacts on the timeline of the trial.

Trump's team has sought to delay his various trials until after the 2024 election, but three of four have already been scheduled, including the federal elections interference case, which is set to begin on March 4. In the confidential documents case, Trump is facing 40 felony counts, including 31 counts of willful retention of classified documents and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice.

Cannon heard arguments over the trial scheduled in the Florida case last week, and her Friday order comes as a slight surprise as her remarks during that hearing signaled she would be willing to give into Trump's request. The former president's team had argued that the Florida trial should be postponed because it would conflict with the election interference case.

Special counsel Jack Smith, however, filed a notice to Cannon that urged her not to be "manipulated" by Trump's team, who had failed to disclose to the judge that they were also seeking to delay the trial date in the other federal case, which Smith is also prosecuting.

The Justice Department argued last week that Trump's efforts to move the other dates undermined his arguments regarding the Florida case.

Cannon acknowledged the filing from the prosecutors in her Friday ruling, but said Trump's other criminal proceeding complicated his ability to prepare for the confidential records trial.

"Although the Special Counsel is correct that the trajectory of these matters potentially remains in flux, the schedules as they currently stand overlap substantially with the deadlines in this case, presenting additional challenges to ensuring Defendant Trump has adequate time to prepare for trial and to assist in his defense," Cannon wrote.

She added that Trump's team should have more time to review the "exceedingly voluminous" discovery, but would keep the May 20 date as she seeks to balance "the public's right to a speedy trial."

Although Cannon could still decide to grant Trump's request in early March, legal analyst Bradley Moss said her Friday order was a striking rejection of the former president.

"Folks, don't read too much into the minor extension she gave Trump. It's not what he wanted, especially when it comes to deadlines for him to fight over CIPA," Moss said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, referring to the Classified Information Procedures Act. "This is still on track for May, at least for now." CIPA is a litigation tool used to pre-filter discovery documents.

But others weren't as sure. Analyst Lisa Rubin said Cannon's order "cemented her role as the Lucy-with-the-football of the federal judiciary."

"She'll never block or tackle the government, but she'll likely postpone the classified documents trial at or after a March 2024 hearing," Rubin tweeted Friday.

When reached via email, Trump's team responded to Newsweek by commenting, "President Trump is fighting Crooked Joe Biden, Deranged Jack Smith, and radical Democrats as a whole on multiple fronts. We look forward to the conference set by Judge Cannon for next March, where future scheduling matters, including a potential trial date, will be discussed.

"The concerted effort by the Biden Administration to deny President Trump's constitutional rights to prepare for trial reveal their corrupt motives. It is clearly in the best interest of Justice for President Trump to have adequate time to prepare and file motions as he works to defeat these hoaxes and marches back to the White House."

Update 11/10/23 12:27 p.m. ET: This story was updated with comments from Lisa Rubin.