Good news, everyone! Donald Trump could go to trial this year. Oh, you need me to be more specific because the former president who incited an insurrection and was found liable for sexual abuse has multiple charges filed against him in multiple jurisdictions, with even more on the very near horizon?! We’re specifically talking about the case that’s being held in Florida for alleged crimes related to the Espionage Act that includes the mishandling of documents. Hope that narrows it down for you; they’re getting hard to keep track of.
What’s even better news is that there’s a possibility that the trial could commence this year, according to Brandon Van Grack, who is a private practice national-security lawyer that worked at the Department of Justice focusing on “high-level national-security matters” and was the lead prosecutor for the Mueller investigation. So you know, he knows his stuff. Per his interview in The Intelligencer:
[Van Grack:] “The Department of Justice is capable of bringing this case by the end of the year, even though there are numerous motions the defense counsel is anticipated to bring, and additional procedures to go through with respect to the classified documents.”
What helps makes the speed possible is that this is not a case with an extraordinary amount of documents to review. I mean, the man was storing classified documents in the flipping bathroom, for Pete’s sake; it’s right there for everyone to see:
Presiding Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, is a dark horse as to whether we’ll see Trump (finally!) go on trial this year or not. As Van Grack told The Intelligencer, “The judge has incredible authority to control the timing.”
So essentially, it’s up to Judge Cannon whether a trial happens this year or not, and since next year is an election year, there might be cause to get this show on the road, so to speak. Per the above source:
[Van Grack:] “I think a really important point to layer on top of all this, since 2024 is an election year, is that right now, this indictment is just allegations. These aren’t facts. They’re allegations, which the government says it has facts to support. There should be agreement on all sides, and among the public, that we should all want all of these facts — as well as what a jury thinks about those facts — out as quickly as possible, because they could influence the election. So you would want them out before as opposed to after.”
So once a court date is set, Trump’s lawyers have security clearances (due to the nature of the documents Trump is accused of improperly storing), and the jury is selected, just how long does the U.S. expect their portion of the trial to last? Van Grack has the answer for you, per The Intelligencer:
The government has already said it would take them 21 days. So that doesn’t mean “short.” But the point is that the potential for delay isn’t complications at trial — it’s navigating pretrial.
Obviously, time will only tell whether we get a fast trial, but it appears the U.S. government is ready to go. It really all depends on Judge Cannon, who, as a reminder, was a Trump appointee, not to bum you out or anything. The good news is, this is just one of two current trials against Trump, and Special Counsel for the United States Jack Smith still hasn’t brought charges against Trump for January 6th, plus there’s still the opportunity for Georgia to file charges against Trump for election tampering. So, there’s plenty of prison time to go around, is what I’m saying.
(featured image: Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)
