Trump's push to delay classified documents trial could blow up in his face: expert

Former President Donald Trump has pushed for his trial date to be moved back in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents trial — and right-wing Judge Aileen Cannon, herself a Trump appointee, has signaled she may intend to give him just that. But a former federal prosecutor on Monday warned Trump the move could blow up in his face.

To understand why that is, wrote Glenn Kirschner for MSNBC, it helps to remember that Trump is facing a barrage of four criminal trials, all of which are trying to schedule to avoid the other.

"In my three decades as a federal prosecutor, I have seen that judges are understandably loath to force a defense team into 'back-to-back' trials," wrote Kirschner.

What that means is that judges "understand that defense attorneys are constitutionally obligated to represent their clients effectively and zealously," and in order for that to be possible, "attorneys need adequate time to prepare for trial, particularly in the weeks, and even months, before a scheduled trial date," he said.

"Finishing one lengthy trial in Washington, only to turn right around and begin a second lengthy trial in Florida would hamstring Trump’s defense team."

ALSO READ: Supreme Court cowards are hiding behind a hollow ethics code. Here’s how to fix that.

If Trump's classified documents case ends up delayed, wrote Kirschner, one of the big effects of that will be to free up room on the calendar for another trial — and in particular the one that matters here is the Georgia election racketeering trial brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

"Assuming the D.C. trial wraps up in late April or early May 2024, that would give Trump and his attorneys ample time to prepare for the Georgia trial set to begin in August," wrote Kirschner. What that means is that if Cannon does what legal experts are expecting and give him a reprieve, possibly until after the election, then "Trump’s 'victory' may be a hollow one, as a postponed Florida trial will do little more than free him up for his Georgia trial."

There is still much up in the air about how all of these trials will work, Kirschner cautioned. "Trying to figure out which of these trials will commence on a previously set trial date and which will be delayed to some future date is a bit like a game of musical chairs, with the parties not quite knowing when the music might stop," he concluded.

"But one way or another, Donald Trump inevitably will have to face the music."