Walt Nauta (L), a US Navy veteran and a White House military valet to former US president Donald Trump, and Stanley Woodward (R), attorney, arrive at the James Lawrence King Federal Justice Building on July 06, 2023 in Miami , Florida .
Eva Marie Uzcategul | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Former President Donald Trump asked a federal court Monday night to delay setting a date for a criminal trial over his handling of classified documents, arguing that the unprecedented case requires “a measured consideration and timeline.”
The filing in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida came in response to the Department of Justice, which had already asked the court to delay the start of the trial by nearly four months until mid-December.
Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, initially scheduled the former president’s criminal trial to begin on August 14. Court watchers and legal experts had widely expected the trial to be postponed to a later date. to give the parties sufficient time to prepare.
Nauta, Trump’s valet and co-defendant in the case, recently pleaded not guilty to six counts against him because his arraignment was twice delayed. Nauta was charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding and corruptly concealing documents, and making false representations. Trump was arraigned a few weeks ago, pleading not guilty to 37 criminal counts.
The sensitive subject at the center of the case may also extend the timeline. Because it centers on top-secret documents stored at Trump’s residence, the case and the eventual trial will have to comply with federal law governing how trials work.
The Justice Department and Nauta’s lawyers clashed Monday over when a pre-trial hearing focused on that law, called the Classified Information Procedures Act or CIPA, should take place. The DOJ opposed Nauta’s request to postpone that hearing, set for Friday, as unnecessary.
In a subsequent filing late Monday, Trump’s lawyers said they reached an agreement with the DOJ to hold the CIPA hearing on Tuesday, July 18.
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