The facts in the indictment alleging Donald Trump intentionally kept hundreds of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate may be strong and straightforward, according to experts. But with the clock ticking on the 2024 presidency, is there enough time for the court to process the matter?
Joining The New Abnormal podcast this week is CNN legal analyst Elie Honig, who says “there is just no way” that the case against him could go ahead if Trump becomes president next November and it hasn’t yet gone to trial.
Trump is facing two separate criminal cases— including 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in New York, as well as the federal Mar-a-Lago documents case, in which he faces 37 charges. He has pleaded not guilty to both. The New York case is scheduled to go to trial next year but will likely delay the documents case.
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And those cases don’t even represent all of Trump’s legal woes.
“2029 could be a really busy trial period,” Honig tells host Andy Levy. “There is absolutely no way that any court will try, criminally, the sitting president or the elected president of the United States. I mean, federally, it's probably just straight-up not allowed because DOJ has a long policy against even charging a sitting president. Never mind trying one. And good luck to a state court that says, ‘Well, we’re a separate sovereign and we’re gonna try.’ I mean, that ain't happening.”
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Plus! Senior editor at Slate and the host of the Amicus podcast, Dahlia Lithwick, joins the show to discuss the case. Lithwick, who wrote the piece “The Biggest Questions—and Dangers—in the Trump Documents Case,” says one of those dangers is the judge assigned to Trump’s documents case, Judge Aileen Cannon.
“She is the poster child for somebody who looks like there is no possible way under the judicial recusal rules that she could hear this case and preserve public confidence in the entire judicial system.”
Listen to this full episode of The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon and Stitcher.
