(MENAFN- Live Mint) "Former US President Donald Trump's trial in Florida on charges of illegally keeping classified documents has been 'postponed indefinitely', a judge decided on Tuesday. This significantly reduced the possibility that he will face a jury in either of the two federal criminal cases against him before the US election on November 5.Trump, aiming to regain the presidency, was previously set to go to trial on May 20 in the documents case brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith. However, both the prosecution and defense had acknowledged that the date would require postponement District Judge Aileen Cannon stated that the trial would no longer begin on May 20 but did not set a new date. The judge, appointed to the bench by Trump in 2020, scheduled pre-trial hearings to run through July 22 Trump is the Republican candidate challenging Democratic President Joe Biden, who defeated him four years ago's lawyers had earlier said a trial in the documents case should not start until after the election, but also suggested an August 12 date in response to an order from Cannon to propose a timeline for the case. Smith proposed a July start date Washington University law professor Randall Eliason, an expert in white-collar criminal cases said,“We're in this absolutely unprecedented situation where a defendant is potentially going to have the power to shut down his own prosecution.”“That's an argument for getting the case to trial before the election,” Eliason said as quoted by Reuters.
Trump has been on trial in New York state court since April 15 on charges he unlawfully sought to conceal hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. He has also been charged in state court in Georgia over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
(With Reuters inputs)
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