Trump’s trial likely to be postponed until next year, or possibly after the 2024 election, legal experts say

Former President Donald Trump faces a Monday deadline to comply with the government’s request to postpone the classified documents trial until December, but legal experts say the trial will be delayed until next year or 2024 due to the national situation. It says it won’t even start after the 2020 presidential election. Possible security implications.

Former federal prosecutor and FBI consultant Joseph Moreno said, “There won’t be a trial in December,” and he expects a trial “not before next year’s elections.”

He said that due to the national security nature of the case, sensitive mechanics would be involved in dealing with sensitive documents in the discovery process and in assessing what the jury could and could not see and hear. I explained that it would happen.

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A lawsuit involving similar charges related to the unauthorized disclosure and retention of defense information and obstruction of justice allegations in Virginia took more than four years from indictment to conclusion, meaning Trump will wait until 2025, or beyond, for a jury trial. It has been suggested that it may not be possible to receive .

The case involved former CIA officer Jeffrey Alexander Sterling, who was sentenced to three years in prison. He was found guilty of espionage charges related to leaking classified information about Iran and a weapons operation against journalist James Risen.

John Yu, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley and a former Justice Department official, said he did not believe Trump’s trial would begin this year. But he said it could start before the November elections.

“It could take about a year to get started because it would be necessary to revoke the appointment of all lawyers and create a system for presenting classified documents to juries (the government has offered a generous plea bargain to avoid this. often) […] And there are complex constitutional issues,” he explained in an email.

Trump faces 37 criminal charges, 31 of which are allegations of withholding national defense information. He has also been charged with concealing possession of classified documents and making false statements. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Mr. Yu said Mr. Trump’s lawyers likely want the trial to begin after the election.

“Anything Trump said in the campaign could go against Trump in court. But I could see Mr. Trump himself taking a gamble: If he was underdog in the race, he might think a trial would get him support — the Justice Department against him. I’m sure he’s aware that if he takes good action, the poll numbers will go up,” Yu said.

A lawyer for Trump did not respond to a request for comment.

Mary Grow Leary, senior vice dean of academic affairs at the Catholic University of America and a former prosecutor, said Trump showed he viewed the Justice Department as an extension of the president’s personal mandate rather than an independent agency.

“If that’s the defendant’s view, you can imagine he wants to delay the trial until he takes control of the Justice Department (which would require an election victory). He may decide to unjustly intervene in the functioning of the system and, if he can so appoint the public, unjustly close the case, for such a scenario would be an incentive to delay the trial. deaf,” she said in an email.

Trump’s trial is scheduled for Aug. 14, but federal prosecutors have requested that the case continue until at least Dec. 11.

U.S. District Judge Eileen Cannon, Trump’s appointee to oversee the paperwork, has asked Trump’s attorneys to respond to the request by Monday.

• Jeff Mordock contributed to this article.