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Judge Aileen Cannon on Friday set Donald Trump's classified documents trial to start in late May 2024.
“The case is set for Jury Trial in the Fort Pierce Division during the two-week trial period commencing on May 20, 2024," Cannon wrote in an order that includes a schedule with key litigation dates between now and then.
Special counsel Jack Smith had pushed for a December start date. Trump wanted to push off the trial through the 2024 election, in which a Republican victory could make any federal charges against Trump disappear.
At a Tuesday hearing in Florida federal court, Cannon was reportedly skeptical of both sides' positions on trial timing. Her order Friday accordingly split the difference somewhat and should be insulated from legal challenge.
To be sure, the date is far from the December start time Smith requested. But Cannon could have set a date even further into 2024 without rising to a level that Smith would have been able to legally attack. Had she embraced Trump's indefinite delay approach, that would have been another story.
Of course, a lot can happen until then with Cannon's handling of the case, saying nothing of the power she'd have during the trial itself, but the date she chose doesn't appear suspect in its own right.
It's true that the trial, if it happens as currently scheduled, will be taking place well into the primary season and that Trump could be the presumptive GOP nominee at that point. But running into election season was seemingly inevitable from the start and, if Trump is tried within a year from his indictment, that will have been reasonable.
Importantly, we'll see if the late May start date holds, as Trump will inevitably try to delay it as he moves closer to potentially recapturing the White House. (Again, if Trump or another Republican wins in 2024, any federal prosecution against Trump could go away.)
But for now, a busy trial schedule is shaping up for Trump on criminal matters alone, with his New York hush money trial already set for March 2024. More criminal trial dates could come, both in Georgia and in Smith's other probe, which, like the Georgia inquiry, centers on 2020 election interference.
Trump and his co-defendant, Walt Nauta, have both pleaded not guilty to the Florida federal indictment, which charges the former president with violating the Espionage Act for unlawfully retaining classified documents; both defendants are charged with obstruction-related offenses. Trump has also pleaded not guilty or denied wrongdoing in the other cases and investigations.