Former U.S. President Donald Trump will stand trial on charges of mishandling classified documents in May 2024, according to a court order. The date pushes the court hearings deep into the 2024 presidential race.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon ordered the trial to start on May 24th, next year. A pretrial hearing in the case will be held on May 14th. The dates place the hearings after most state primaries, which are scheduled to be finished by mid-May, U.S. media reports.
Nebraska, Maryland, and West Virginia are expected to hold their primary votes on May 14th, according to CNN. Oregon will hold its vote a week later, and a few other states, including New Jersey, will vote on June 4th, the network added.
According to Associated Press, the Republican presidential nominee might already be determined by the time Trump arrives in court, even though the official nomination takes place at the Republican National Convention in July 2024.
Two weeks ago, Trump’s lawyers demanded his trial be delayed until after the 2024 presidential elections. The prosecutors also requested a four-month postponement and called for the trial to be moved to December 2023.
