Donald Trump is too busy with his election interference and hush money cases to deal with his classified documents case, his lawyers claim, which could mean the case will be pushed beyond inauguration day, 2025.
The former president’s legal team is seeking a 30-day extension to Trump’s opening filing to a Florida court, where prosecutor Jack Smith is appealing a lower court’s decision to throw out the classified documents case.
Their request, which they say is unopposed by prosecutors, will likely mean the classified documents case stretches well past past the November election results to January next year when the winning president, Trump or Kamala Harris, is sworn in.
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The appeal will likely take several months. If Trump loses, he is expected to appeal the decision at the U.S Supreme Court and if unsuccessful, the case will return to the trial judge for more pre-trial hearings.
Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee to Florida federal court, previously dismissed all charges against the former president in his classified documents case after she ruled that chief prosecutor, Jack Smith, was wrongfully appointed as special counsel in the case.
Trump was facing 40 federal charges in Cannon’s court over his alleged handling of sensitive materials seized from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, after leaving the White House in January 2021. He was also accused of obstructing efforts by federal authorities to retrieve them.
The Republican presidential nominee had pleaded not guilty and has said the case is part of a political witch hunt.
Smith is now appealing Cannon’s decision.
Newsweek sought email comment from Trump’s attorney on Wednesday.
In a filing to Florida’s federal court of appeals on Tuesday, Trump lawyers Emil Bove and Todd Blanche write that Trump’s legal team is busy with his election interference case in Washington, D.C.
This will involve using a government approved “sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF)” in Washington D.C, where sensitive government documents can be discussed without fear of bugging or hacking, but which will delay their classified documents case.
Trump was indicted on four counts of allegedly working to illegally interfere in the results of the 2020 election in the run-up to the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. The Republican presidential nominee has pleaded not guilty and has said the case is part of a political witch hunt.
Trump’s lawyers are also seeking a 30-day delay in Florida because they are preparing an appeal briefing “in advance of a potential sentencing hearing presently set for November 26, 2024, in Trump’s hush money case in New York.
Trump faced trial in New York City on 34 counts of falsifying business records for hush money payments made to former adult film actor Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. On May 30, a jury convicted him on all 34 counts. He denied any wrongdoing and having a relationship with Daniels, claiming it was all part of a witch hunt against him.
Trump’s lawyers say they conferred with Smith’s office about their 30-day delay request and Smith’s office have said that “without expressing a view on whether appellees have established good cause, the government does not oppose appellees’ 30-day extension request.”