Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump delivers remarks at a Nevada Republican volunteer recruiting event at Fervent: A Calvary Chapel on July 8, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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The Department of Justice‘s special counsel on Thursday urged a federal judge to reject Donald Trump’s bid to indefinitely delay his trial on criminal charges related to his retention of classified documents after he left the White House.
DOJ special counsel Jack Smith’s team said in a recent court filing that the previous president’s trial should start in Florida on Dec. 11, and never wait until after the 2024 presidential election as Trump and his co-defendant Walt Nauta have requested.
Trump is in search of the Republican presidential nomination.
“There isn’t a basis in law or fact for proceeding in such an indeterminate and open-ended fashion, and the Defendants provide none,” Smith’s prosecutors wrote of their filing U.S. District Court in West Palm Beach, Florida.
“A speedy trial is a foundational requirement of the Structure and america Code, not a Government preference that should be justified,” the special counsel’s team added. “Defendants’ claim that this Court couldn’t select an impartial jury until after the presidential election doesn’t justify further delay here.”
In their very own filing Tuesday night, lawyers for Trump and Nauta, who works as Trump’s personal aide, argued that Smith’s proposed December start for the trial is “unrealistic” given the amount of evidence and special circumstances of the case.
Trump is the primary president, former or otherwise, to be criminally charged in federal court.
He was indicted in early June on 37 counts in reference to allegedly illegally keeping classified government documents at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, and taking steps to forestall officials from recovering those records once suspicions grew that Trump had retained such files.
He and Nauta, who’s accused of aiding him in that alleged effort, have pleaded not guilty within the case.
Their lawyers have argued that the case will raise significant legal issues, amongst them the query of whether the fees conflict with the Presidential Records Act.
Defense lawyers also said they expect the indictment to be dismissed.
On Thursday, Smith’s prosecutors scoffed at that suggestion, writing, “Any argument that [the Presidential Records Act] mandates dismissal of the Indictment or forms a defense to the fees here borders on frivolous.”
“The legal issues Defendants raise don’t justify deviation from a speedy trial date, much less open-ended deferral of considering one,” prosecutors wrote.
That is breaking news. Check back for updates.
