Aileen Cannon's Move Could Backfire on Donald Trump

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks to supporters during a rally on February 17, 2024 in Waterford, Michigan, The judge overseeing Trump’s classified documents case could soon decide to delay start of the trial.

The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s classified documents trial may inadvertently help decide when the former president’s 2020 election obstruction trial begins, according to a legal expert.

Former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner, a frequent critic of Trump, made the claim while discussing a scheduling conference that Judge Aileen Cannon will head on March 1. Cannon could decide to push back the start of the former president’s trial, where he has pleaded not guilty to 40 federal charges, which is currently scheduled for May 20.

Cannon, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, has frequently faced criticism that her rulings have favored the former president, including ones that could delay the start of the classified documents proceedings in front of a jury.

Trump, the expected 2024 Republican presidential nominee, and his legal team have also faced accusations they are taking every possible step to delay the start of the federal trial until after November’s election in the hopes that if he wins the race, Trump could then demand the Department of Justice drop the case once he enters office.

Speaking to MSNBC, Kirschner suggested that if Cannon does opt to delay the classified documents trial from May 20, then the judge overseeing the federal case where Trump is accused of illegally trying to overturn the 2020 election results could announce their trial starts on that date instead.

Newsweek reached out to Trump’s legal team for comment via email.

Judge Tanya Chutkan allowed the federal election trial where Trump has pleaded not guilty to four charges to be put on hold while the former president argues that the case should be dismissed as he is immune from prosecution as the allegations relate to his time in the White House.

Trump took his appeal to the Supreme Court, with a decision from the nation’s highest court on what to do with the immunity argument potentially arriving by Wednesday.

The Supreme Court could decide to take up the case, potentially delaying the trial by months. SCOTUS could also rule that the previous decision from the ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which rejected Trump’s immunity argument, should remain in place, which would send the case back to Chutkan to allow pre-trial proceedings to continue.

“We know Donald Trump and his team of lawyers will try to convince Judge Canon to kick the May 20 trial date—and you may not expect to hear this from me—but I almost hope that she does kick the May 20 trial date,” Kirschner said.

“Why? Because if the Supreme Court denies the stay and the absolute immunity issue and returns the case to Tanya Chutkan in the election interference case, I would love to see her take that case and drop it on the docket for May 20 if Judge Cannon kicks the May 20 date down in Florida.”

Chutkan has already delayed the start of the election interference trial from its original scheduled date of March 4 because of the immunity appeal process.

Chutkan has previously stated that the period in which the case is stayed will not count towards the seven months between the indictment getting unsealed last August and the start of the trial, which she offered the former president’s legal team to prepare.

Chutkan granted a stay in the case in December 2023. If the Supreme Court decides not to take up Trump’s immunity appeal this week and the case resumes, the seven-month deadline will expire and lead to a potential May trial.

Peter Shane, a constitutional law professor at New York University, previously told Newsweek he would be “stunned” if the Supreme Court decides to take up Trump’s immunity appeal as the case is “exceedingly weak.”

“Whether presidents may be charged with crimes while in office is a difficult question; whether former presidents may be charged is not,” Shane said.

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