Joe Biden and all of the Democrats who have been eagerly anticipating the spectacle of former President Donald Trump standing trial in two different lawfare cases simultaneously will need to lower their expectations. The judge in Trump’s classified documents case in Florida ruled yesterday that the trial, previously scheduled to begin on May 20, is not feasible and postponed it. No new trial date was announced. This casts doubt on the possibility that the trial could even begin before the election in November. Judge Aileen Cannon declared that it would be “imprudent” to set a new trial date at this time because of unresolved issues that still plague the case as well as the fact that some of the lawyers who would be involved are currently tied up with the “hush money” case taking place in New York. (Associated Press)
The federal judge in Florida presiding over the classified documents prosecution of former President Donald Trump has canceled the May 20 trial date, postponing it indefinitely.
The order from U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon had been expected in light of still-unresolved issues in the case and because Trump is currently on trial in a separate case in Manhattan charging him in connection with hush money payments during the 2016 presidential election. The New York case involves several of the same lawyers representing him in the federal case in Florida.
Cannon said in a five-page order Tuesday that it would be “imprudent” to finalize a new trial date now, casting further doubt on federal prosecutors’ ability to bring Trump to trial before the November presidential election.
It’s worth noting the focus that the AP coverage of this news places on the timing of the anticipated trial in terms of the election. Under more “normal” circumstances, that wouldn’t even be a consideration. Trials take place when both the prosecution and the defense are prepared to move forward. Relatively simple, straightforward cases can move to trial quickly while more complicated allegations can take quite a while to resolve. But Trump has been surging in the polls lately while Joe Biden is roughly as popular as an impacted wisdom tooth, so the left is desperate to keep Trump off the campaign trail and, if possible, put him behind bars.
The reactions in the media from liberals were predictable. The New Republic called Judge Cannon “shameless” and said that she may have “killed” the case altogether. Raw Story declared that the judge was being “shredded” over her decision. Newsweek declared that she is “out of her league.” Of course, nothing in Cannon’s ruling so much as suggested anything about Donald Trump’s innocence or guilt or questioned whether he should stand trial. These were simple procedural difficulties that made the original trial date impractical.
The classified documents case is a complicated one that presents problems for both Donald Trump and the Democrats seeking to engage in lawfare against him. On the one hand, it is arguably the strongest of the four cases against Trump because it seems very likely that the law was broken when he removed classified documents and retained them after leaving office without first officially declassifying them. But at the same time, what he did seems paltry compared to the massive mishandling of classified material by both Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton (including intentional destruction of evidence in the latter case) with neither of them ever being charged. Their hypocrisy is evident, but the Democrats don’t seem to care because this was never about the law. It’s all about trying to keep Trump out of office and off the ballot if possible.
Meanwhile, the supposed “hush money” trial has gone completely off the rails now that Stormy Daniels has testified. Legal analysts have piled on, saying that her testimony was completely inappropriate and almost entirely unrelated to the unspecified charges that the District Attorney is trying to pursue. If the case were being handled by an unbiased judge in any location less solidly blue than Manhattan, it would have already been dismissed. But Trump is facing a stacked deck there and they may still manage to get a conviction, though the odds seem longer now than they did a month ago.