Federal Judge Aileen Cannon announced Tuesday she was indefinitely postponing Donald Trump’s classified documents trial in Florida, putting the case on ice less than three weeks before it was slated to begin.
The announcement likely means the case will not be tried until after the 2024 election.
Trump’s camp is sure to view the postponement as a major win, as they’ve tried nearly everything legally possible—through a variety of appeals and motions—to have each trial against the former president pushed back or thrown out entirely, including the classified documents trial in question.
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Cannon wrote Tuesday that the trial’s start date, previously slated for May 20, was being delayed so she can resolve a slew of pre-trial motions. She added that the “finalization of a trial date at this juncture ... would be imprudent and inconsistent with the Court’s duty to fully and fairly consider the various pending pre-trial motions before the Court.”
Before she sets a new trial date, Cannon said she plans to resolve the backlog of other issues in the case that have piled up in recent weeks. That, she said, will take until at least late July.
Jack Smith, the special counsel prosecuting Trump in the case, did not immediately comment on the delay. He’d previously asked Cannon to have the trial begin July 8, but she indicated Tuesday that date is too soon.
Smith is already sitting in limbo on another Trump case, awaiting a Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity that could determine if the trial—concerning the former president’s attempts to subvert the 2020 election—can move forward this year or not.
It’s not the first instance Trump’s delay tactics have paid off. He previously had his hush-money trial in New York City, which currently ongoing as of Tuesday, pushed back nearly a month from its initial start date.
