US Judge Aileen Cannon on Tuesday indefinitely postponed former President Donald Trump’s classified documents trial in Florida, citing significant issues around classified evidence that would need to be worked out before the federal criminal case goes to a jury, CNN reported.
In an order, Cannon cancelled the May trial date and did not set a new date. While Trump was in criminal court on Tuesday for his hush money trial in New York, Cannon’s move means there are no trial dates currently set for the other three criminal cases against him.
By indefinitely postponing the classified documents trial, Cannon’s order pushes it closer to the 2024 election – and potentially afterward.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 40 counts of unauthorized retention of national defense information, obstruction of justice and false statements.
Prosecutors have accused Trump of taking top-secret documents with him when he left the White House in 2021 and storing them haphazardly at Mar-a-Lago.
Trump has denounced the indictment against him as "ridiculous and baseless."
In March,Cannon denied Trump's request to dismiss the case.
Cannon noted in her Tuesday order that there are eight substantive pending motions she has yet to decide. She also reiterated that she believes the national security mishandling allegations in the case “present novel and difficult questions.”
Though all parties agreed that the case wouldn’t be ready to go before a jury in May, prosecutors still pushed for a July trial date, while Trump and his co-defendants proposed dates in August and September.