U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon on Friday ruled that Donald Trump's classified documents trial will proceed on May 20, 2024, as scheduled, but that she will reconsider the date in early March.
The ruling is a temporary blow to the GOP presidential front-runner, whose attorneys sought to delay the criminal trial until after the November 2024 election. Although the Trump-appointed judge previously signaled that she may push the trial date back, it appears she chose to delay a decision on it instead.
Trump has kept his plate full juggling four criminal cases — including this classified documents case in Florida — and the ongoing civil fraud trial in New York as he runs for president. His trial in the federal election interference case in Washington is set to begin on March 4, one day before Super Tuesday.
Cannon, who has been accused of showing bias toward Trump’s team in this case, was sympathetic to his lawyers' arguments that they need more time to pore over discovery. She also noted in her order on Friday that the court "cannot ignore the realities of pre-trial and trial schedules in two other criminal matters identified by defense counsel," citing the federal election interference trial and the New York hush money trial — both set to begin in March.
As my colleague Jordan Rubin wrote, "Scheduling decisions are the sort of thing over which trial judges have great discretion." Although Cannon is holding the May 2024 trial date for now, her ruling gives Trump a glimmer of hope that the chips — on this matter, at least — could still fall in his favor.
His campaign has already hailed this ruling as a win: "We look forward to the conference set by Judge Cannon for next March, where future scheduling matters, including a potential trial date will be discussed," a Trump campaign spokesperson said. "It is clearly in the best interest of Justice for President Trump to have adequate time to prepare and file motions, as he works to defeat these hoaxes and marches back to the White House."