United States District Judge Aileen M. Cannon, appointed by former President Donald Trump, decided to delay the trial date indefinitely on Tuesday. She mentioned that it would be unwise to set a date before addressing several pre-trial motions. Special counsel Jack Smith revealed a new indictment on July 27, 2023, which added charges against Carlos De Oliveira, a maintenance worker at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida estate. This came after the special counsel had initially obtained a 37-count indictment against Trump and his aide Walter Nauta in June 2023.
BREAKING: Judge CANNON has indefinitely postponed Donald Trump's trial date in Florida.
It may be months before we know the new schedule.https://t.co/SScVNc0KAD pic.twitter.com/xnmlCjK92X
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) May 7, 2024
“The Court also determines that finalization of a trial date at this juncture—before resolution of the myriad and interconnected pre-trial and CIPA issues remaining and forthcoming—would be imprudent and inconsistent with the Court’s duty to fully and fairly consider the various pending pre-trial motions before the Court, critical CIPA issues, and additional pretrial and trial preparations necessary to present this case to a jury,” Cannon wrote. “The Court therefore vacates the current May 20, 2024, trial date (and associated calendar call), to be reset by separate order following resolution of the matters before the Court, consistent with Defendants’ right to due process and the public’s interest in the fair and efficient administration of justice.”
In a filing submitted on Friday afternoon, Smith acknowledged that federal investigators had failed to adequately preserve evidence after the raid on Mar-a-Lago, the Florida estate owned by the former president, which took place on August 8, 2022.
NEW: Judge Cannon officially vacates May 20 trial date, says setting a new date with so many outstanding matters would be “imprudent.” pic.twitter.com/A8QwNmuQ6o
— Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) May 7, 2024
“There are some boxes where the order of items within that box is not the same as in the associated scans,” Smith’s filing said. “There are several possible explanations, including the above-described instances in which the boxes were accessed, as well as the size and shape of certain items in the boxes possibly leading to movement of items. For example, the boxes contain items smaller than standard paper such as index cards, books, and stationary, which shift easily when the boxes are carried, especially because many of the boxes are not full.”
In a footnote included in Friday’s filing, it was acknowledged by Smith that the statement made was “inconsistent” with the information provided to Cannon during previous arguments. On Tuesday, Trump’s legal team submitted a motion to address the reported violations and indicated their intention to file further motions.
“It never occurred to us, until last Friday, that the prosecution team could not be trusted to perform the basic task of maintaining the integrity of such evidence despite the expansive resources at their disposal,” Trump’s attorneys wrote.
Before I address the evidence-tampering filing posted by Special Counsel Jack Smith last night, let's turn to the motion that forced Smith to admit what happened–one filed by Walt Nauta's attorney on May 1.
Remember the photo of "classified docs" strewn on the floor with scary… pic.twitter.com/IOdHpRqAyu
— Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) May 4, 2024