Donald Trump's classified documents case set amid GOP presidential primaries: 4 takeaways

The case accusing Trump of mishandling classified documents is one of several legal cases he faces while campaigning for president.

• Judge sets May 20 trial date, splitting the difference between prosecutors who wanted to start in December and defense lawyer who wanted to wait until after the 2024 election.
• The judge said the date would allow Trump's lawyers to review 'exceedingly voluminous' evidence in the case.

Donald Trump's litigation calendar just got a little more crowded − and his political calendar a little more complicated − after a federal judge on Friday scheduled his trial in the classified documents case to begin May 20.

"The Court finds that the interests of justice served by this continuance outweigh the best interest of the public and Defendants in a speedy trial," U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon wrote Friday.

The trial could be delayed again, depending on disputes over issues such as what evidence will be allowed at trial. Trump's lawyers have said they will be making novel legal arguments that judges have not previously decided.

Here are four takeaways about what the decision means for Trump's schedule:

Archives preliminary set after primaries, yet in intensity of official mission

Cannon's conditional timetable − she put the proviso "at this point" in her request − puts the public safety case in the official primaries.

Trump keeps on driving surveys for the conservative assignment notwithstanding his lawful cases. While the assignment ought to be chosen by May 20, expresses that have primaries after that date incorporate Kentucky, Oregon, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota. A two-month preliminary would run into the GOP show in Milwaukee in mid-July.

Trump raises crusade commitments and rallies his allies in view of battling criminal cases that he fights are politically spurred to keep him from restricting President Joe Biden.

In any case, banters about proof and the actual preliminary might actually hurt his remaining among electors. Regardless of whether the GOP assignment is settled, Trump could turn into the candidate and the preliminary could hurt his remaining in the overall political decision.

Trump raises crusade commitments and rallies his allies in view of battling criminal cases that he fights are politically spurred to keep him from contradicting President Joe Biden.

In any case, banters about proof and the actual preliminary might actually hurt his remaining among electors. Regardless of whether the GOP assignment is settled, Trump could turn into the candidate and the preliminary could hurt his remaining in the overall political race.

But government lawyers said plenty of criminal defendants have busy schedules.

“He should be treated like everyone else,” assistant special counsel David Harbach said Wednesday.

More: Cases threaten to engulf TrumpAnother federal indictment threatens to engulf Donald Trump and his presidential campaign

Trump's campaign welcomes schedule as 'major setback' for government

Trump's campaign welcome the trial schedule, despite it falling within the primary season, as an opportunity to fight the charges.

Judge Aileen Gun parts contrast between indictment, safeguard

Gun's oversight of the case has been examined on the grounds that she is a Trump deputy who managed well toward him during the examination of the records at Blemish a-Lago.

FBI specialists held onto many ordered records at Blemish a-Lago during an August 2022 inquiry, over eighteen months after Trump went out. Trump was prosecuted on 37 counts including stiff-necked maintenance of public safeguard data under the Surveillance Act, connivance to discourage equity and hiding reports. Trump's own valet, Walt Nauta, was likewise charged for the situation and has additionally argued not blameworthy.

Cannon requested an extraordinary expert to survey the records for conceivable potential limitations under lawyer client or chief honor before government examiners could utilize them. Be that as it may, the eleventh U.S. Circuit Court of Requests upset her request, deciding that Gun couldn't permit the subject of a court order to hinder government examinations after the execution of the warrant.

In the debate Wednesday over the timing of the trial, prosecutors said a December start would give Trump and his lawyers time to review the evidence. But Trump's lawyers argued the case should be postponed until after the 2024 because he couldn't get a fair trial while campaigning for the White House.

“We need to set a timetable,” Cannon said Wednesday. “Some deadlines can be established now.”

She ruled Friday that a December start proposed by prosecutors would be too soon for Trump and his lawyers to review "exceedingly voluminous" evidence, including 340 classified documents totaling 1,545 pages in the case.

Documents case scheduled after New York civil and criminal cases

Trump already faces a handful of other trials and pending investigations by federal and Georgia prosecutors:

◾ A New York civil trial against Trump’s namesake company is scheduled in October.

◾ E. Jean Carroll, who won a $5 million defamation judgment against Trump in May, has a second trial for statements against her made while he was president. The trial is scheduled to start on Jan. 15, the date of the Iowa presidential caucuses.

◾ A New York criminal trial looms in March on charges Trump falsified business records to pay a woman to remain silent before the 2020 election about her claim she had sex with him.

In addition, Smith and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in Georgia are investigating Trump for possible election fraud in 2020. Trump announced Tuesday that Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith named him a target in the federal investigation.