Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon yesterday “indefinitely postponed” former President Donald Trump‘s trial date in Florida, where he faces 40 federal charges related to classified documents seized by the FBI (who had a search warrant authorized by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland) at the presumptive GOP nominee’s Mar-a-Lago estate. The trial had previously been scheduled to begin May 20.
[Above: Classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, photo: United States Department of Justice, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons]
Cannon’s decision to postpone the Florida trial reduces the chances that Trump will face a jury on the classified documents charges prior to the 2024 presidential election. Many legal analysts including former White House attorney Ty Cobb have criticized Cannon’s handling of the case and have called for her recusal.
[Note: In 2022, Cannon ordered the Department of Justice to pause using materials seized from Mar-a-Lago. A Court of Appeals reversed her order.]
Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder responded to the news of postponement by writing: “Let’s just deal with a very disturbing reality here: this whole process in the documents case has simply not been on the up and up.”
Let’s just deal with a very disturbing reality here: this whole process in the documents case has simply not been on the up and up. https://t.co/lFNcNLd133
— Eric Holder (@EricHolder) May 7, 2024
Based on remarks Trump has made at recent campaign rallies, including admitting wanting to be a dictator for ‘day one,’ Holder has been among many in law enforcement who are warning that a second Trump presidency would include the likelihood of Trump using the “full weight” of the Department of Justice in revenge against his political opponents.