The federal judge overseeing the Justice Department’s case against Donald Trump for obstruction and allegedly mishandling classified documents scheduled the start of the trial for August 14, CBS News reported.
In an order issued on Tuesday, US District Judge Aileen Cannon said the 2-week jury trial will begin on August 14 at the federal district court in Fort Pierce, Florida. However, the scheduled start may change depending on any motions Trump’s lawyers might file.
The Trump legal team is expected to file a motion to dismiss and may also seek to exclude the evidence collected during the investigation. However, it is unclear if either motion would be successful.
Judge Cannon said that any motion to postpone the trial date must include details that constitute grounds for a delay.
The judge gave the prosecutors and defense until July 24 to submit pre-trial motions.
In the 49-page indictment, the former president is charged with 37 counts, including 31 counts of “Willful Retention of National Defense Information” and 6 additional counts related to obstruction and making false statements.
Nearly all of the 31 documents retained by Trump included top-secret or secret classification markings. The documents were either turned over on June 3, 2022, in response to a federal subpoena, or were seized by the FBI during the search of Mar-a-Lago on August 8, 2022.
In his arraignment last week, Trump pleaded not guilty to all 37 counts and was released.
The former president’s longtime valet Walt Nauta was also charged in the indictment.
Nauta faces one count of “willfully” and “knowingly” making a “materially” false statement and representation about his involvement in the attempt to hide the documents from the government.
During arraignment last week, Nauta did not enter a plea since he still did not have a Florida attorney to represent him in the case. Nauta’s arraignment is scheduled for June 27.
