The first hearing for Donald Trump and the special counsel’s office before Judge Aileen Cannon in the Mar-a-Lago documents case will be in Fort Pierce, Florida, on July 14.
The hearing is set to discuss pretrial issues around classification, with Cannon on Monday granting a request from special counsel Jack Smith that she hold the hearing under the Classified Information Procedures Act.
Trump and his co-defendant Walt Nauta are not required to be present at the hearing, according to the new court order, though it is the first time their defense teams are set to appear before Cannon.
Additionally, Cannon ordered on Monday that the defendants respond by July 6 to the special counsel’s request that the trial be delayed until December.
According to the Friday filing from Smith’s team requesting the delay, the defendants’ attorneys “confirmed they do not oppose an adjournment of the current trial date and request a status hearing with the Court to address the schedule in this action,” as the defense lawyers “anticipate filing an opposition to this motion addressing their objections to the government’s proposed dates.”
Cannon previously scheduled the trial to begin in mid-August, but it was widely expected the start date would be pushed back.
Trump is facing charges of willful retention of national defense information, obstruction, and false statements in the federal investigation into the handling of classified documents from his White House. He has pleaded not guilty. Nauta, who faces obstruction-related charges, is scheduled for an arraignment on Tuesday, where he will have the opportunity to enter his plea.
The scheduling orders from Cannon came shortly after she denied a request from Smith’s team to file under seal a list of witnesses with whom Trump cannot speak about the classified documents case.
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