Donald Trump on June 13 at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, after pleading not guilty to all 37 counts in the Mar-A-Lago papers case. Associated Press/LaPresse (APN)
According to Jack Smith, the special prosecutor handling the case, holding the trial of former President Donald Trump over the classified Mar-A-Lago papers after August 14 is not a realistic goal. Smith has asked Judge Aileen Cannon, in charge of the case, to postpone the trial until December. In his opinion, the necessary steps before the opening of the oral hearing will take several months.
The prosecutor submitted his request to the judge along with other requests. He is calling for the trial to be set for December 11 next year, largely because some of the evidence is confidential documents and special permission is required to access them. This accreditation process takes time, which the prosecutor estimates at 45 to 60 days. Only then would the time limit set by the judge be practically exhausted and there would be no time to address other earlier issues.
The date of August 14 was already just a hint. Judge Cannon, a Trump-appointed judge, used to aggressively set a date and then reschedule it as needed. If the trial is postponed, it will take place closer to the primary elections that the Republican Party is using to choose its nominee for the 2024 presidential election. Trump is entering his party as a favorite and is concentrating on the first quarter of next year.
The prosecutor accuses Trump of 37 charges, 31 of them for illegally storing sensitive national defense documents, others for obstruction of justice, conspiracy and falsehood.
Along with the motion to adjourn the trial, Prosecutor Smith is asking the judge to set the rules for the classified evidence, i.e. Some of the documents deal with third-country military capabilities, including nuclear weapons, others with US operations, some with the US’s own nuclear arsenal, the brief description in the indictment says. However, the exact content is unknown. The prosecutor is also demanding that the list of witnesses with whom he is requesting that Donald Trump be banned from speaking except through lawyers be kept secret.
On the other hand, if the trial over the Mar-A-Lago papers is delayed, there is no longer a risk that the date will overlap with a new possible indictment against Trump in Atlanta for election interference in the 2020 state of Georgia. In what appeared to be advance notice of a possible indictment, Fulton County prosecutor Fani Willis sent a letter to the chief judge of the county superior court last month, stating that she plans to have many of her employees work remotely most of the time would time. Days in the first three weeks of August and urges judges not to schedule in-person hearings for part of that time.
Join EL PAÍS to follow all the news and read without restrictions.
subscribe to
other investigation
In parallel, Special Counsel Smith continues to investigate Trump’s attempts to hold on to power and avoid certifying Joe Biden’s clear victory in the 2020 presidential election, in which he led the former president by a seven-million vote and was won by 306 delegates to 232 or electoral votes .
Smith examines Trump’s attempts to form groups of delegates to support him and to represent states where he lost elections by a smaller margin, such as Georgia, Arizona, Michigan and Nevada, and to oust those legitimately elected. The local press has revealed that prosecutors are in contact with Michael Roman, one of those responsible for the Trump 2020 campaign, to persuade him to volunteer to testify in the case, possibly in exchange for at least partial immunity.
The prosecutor has already presented evidence and testimony to the grand jury about the plan to create lists of fake voters to replace legitimate voters. The aim was to undermine the election result in order to prevent Congress from confirming Biden’s victory on January 6, 2021 and thus blocking the transfer of power. Trump’s refusal to accept his defeat is the trigger for the attack on the Capitol that day.
The House committee investigating the attack on the Capitol recommended trying Trump on four counts: inciting a riot, conspiring to falsely testify and defrauding the United States, and obstructing an official process of Congress, voting for confirmation of Biden’s victory.
The FBI has been investigating the fake voter roll system for more than a year. As part of the court investigation, people close to Trump were questioned before the grand jury, including his Vice President Mike Pence; his Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows; and the rightful White House Chief, Pat Cipollone. Pence avoided testifying about his actions the day the Capitol was stormed. When subpoenaed, he claimed that he exercised his role as Senate President on Jan. 6 and that forcing his testimony violated the so-called “opinion or debate clause,” which protects congressmen from hearing about their parliamentary actions to be accountable.
The grand jury acts as an auxiliary and controlling body in the investigations of the public prosecutor’s office. Approves quotes, requests and allegations. You don’t have to decide guilt or innocence, just determine if there is sufficient evidence of a crime. Opinions and consultations take place behind closed doors. Unlike trial juries, which hear the prosecution and defense, grand juries only hear the evidence and testimony of the prosecutor, giving him a distinct advantage.
Follow all international information on Facebook and Twitteror in our weekly newsletter.