Trump Trial Date Update: Everything We Know

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has requested that the trial of former President Donald Trump regarding his handling of classified information be delayed until December, according to several court motions filed on Friday.

Trump has been charged by the DOJ with willful retention of classified documents upon leaving the White House and obstruction of government efforts to retrieve the sensitive materials. The former president pleaded not guilty to all 37 charges this month and has maintained that the case is a "witch hunt" intended to interfere with his 2024 presidential reelection campaign.

Special Counsel Jack Smith, leading the DOJ probe, has wasted no time in moving Trump's prosecution along, previously vowing that the former president would have a "speedy trial" in Florida court. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon seemed to follow suit, setting the two-week trial to begin August 14.

But Smith has now proposed that the trial be pushed to December 11, arguing in a court filing Friday that the case will require additional time for Trump's defense counsel to obtain the security clearance necessary to sift through the evidence being used against him.

According to Smith, arrangements are already under way to grant Trump's counsel "final clearance" to be able to review the classified documents in question, and the DOJ has already "moved swiftly to produce all unclassified discovery ... to the defense."

"Even with the prompt production the government has arranged, the inclusion of additional time for defense counsel to review and digest the discovery, to make their own decisions about any production to the government, and for the government to review the same, is reasonable and appropriate," Smith wrote in his motion.

Smith's request to postpone the trial date was filed alongside two other motions related to the case, including requesting that the court seal the list of witnesses that testified before the special grand jury and prohibit Trump or his co-defender, Walt Nauta, from speaking to the witnesses about the case. Trump's legal team was provided with the first batch of evidence that will be used against him on Wednesday, including the "grand jury testimony of witnesses who will testify for the government at the trial of this case," read the DOJ's discovery order.

Smith also requested a pre-trial conference "to establish a discovery and motion schedule relating to any classified information" under the Classified Information Procedures Act on Friday.

"Jack Smith is pushing for a swift trial and trying to force Trump's team to be the ones to ask for a delay," former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti said on Twitter in response to Smith's court filings Friday.

"Although he's asking to move the trial date to December 2023, that is still an extremely early trial date, and his filings argue that the case is straightforward," Mariotti wrote.

Legal analyst and former Alabama prosecutor Joyce Vance also tweeted that delaying Trump's trial "was inevitable" given that it "will take time to obtain necessary security clearance & for Trump lawyers to review classified materials, which can only happen in a [sensitive compartmented information facility]."

"Nothing to be upset about here," Vance added.

If granted, Trump could appear in federal court for his criminal case just months before the 2024 GOP primary vote in the spring. The former president is the front-runner among a crowded pool of Republican candidates, and even received a boost in poll numbers after being federally charged.

Trump is also already on the books to appear in New York City's Manhattan court in March, regarding the 34 felony counts related to falsifying business records. The charges stem from the Manhattan District Attorney's investigation of several hush money payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Newsweek has reached out to Trump's campaign via email for comment.