Lawyers representing President Trump and his co-defendants in the classified documents case are arguing for the postponement of a potential trial date.
In a court filing on Friday, Trump's legal team responded to a request from the judge, arguing that despite the forthcoming 70-day window beginning on May 20 to establish a trial date, Judge Aileen Cannon should delay proceedings to afford the defendants' lawyers additional time to review any additional documents provided by prosecutors.
The lawyers stated that discovery is still far from complete in this case. They added that defendants have pursued numerous additional records from the Special Counsel’s Office and have petitioned for evidentiary and non-evidentiary hearings that could lead to the disclosure of further extensive, and potentially classified, discovery materials.
Trump's lawyers contended that this delay would afford all parties additional time to thoroughly review and address the pretrial motions already submitted to the judge.
In response to NBC News' inquiry, a Trump campaign spokesperson stated that the filing aligns with Cannon’s evaluation of determining the earliest possible trial commencement date.
Judge Cannon instructed Trump's lawyers on Tuesday to submit the report by Friday, specifying that it should “include Defendants’ positions on all excludable time from the speedy trial period and expressly indicate any Defendants’ current assertion or waiver of speedy trial rights, with associated timeframes.”
