The classified documents case against former President Donald Trump could have been a strategic error by special counsel Jack Smith, according to a Harvard Law professor. Rather than bringing charges in Washington D.C., Smith’s team indicted President Trump in Florida for the alleged retention of classified documents and obstruction of government attempts to recover them.
In addition to the classified documents case, President Trump is also facing separate charges brought by Mr. Smith’s team for attempting to overturn the 2020 election results. He was indicted in Washington before appealing the matter up to the U.S. Supreme Court, which is expected to issue a ruling in the coming weeks.
Recently, Judge Cannon indefinitely postponed the classified documents trial date, as she has not yet resolved several pending pre-trial motions. In her order, Judge Cannon stated that finalizing a trial date before addressing these outstanding issues would be imprudent and inconsistent with her duty to fully and fairly consider all the pre-trial motions involved in the case.
In mid-May, Judge Cannon’s court held a hearing in which a federal prosecutor accused Trump co-defendant Walt Nauta’s lawyer of fabricating claims that he was pressured by the government into cooperating. However, the lawyer for Mr. Nauta, Stanley Woodward, maintained his claim that Justice Department official Jay Bratt threatened to impact Mr. Woodward’s judgeship nomination if his client did not cooperate with the investigation.
In the separate Georgia case involving alleged election interference, Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee has also not yet set a trial date, following allegations of impropriety against District Attorney Fani Willis related to her relationship with her former special counsel in the Trump case. No timeline for the commencement of the trial has been given by Judge McAfee.
President Trump pleaded not guilty to 40 federal charges accusing him of illegally retaining classified materials at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, after he left the White House in early 2021. He is also accused of obstructing federal officials from recovering these materials. The former president has maintained that these charges are politically motivated and designed to interfere with the upcoming 2024 election.