Former President Donald Trump is still on course to be “tried” and “convicted” in his federal classified documents case before the 2024 election, according to legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner on Friday.
The former president is facing 40 felony counts in connection to his handling of classified materials that were retrieved from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in August 2022 by the FBI after leaving the White House the year prior. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges, and maintains that the case is a form of interference to upset his reelection bid.
Federal prosecutors have requested that the case head to court on July 8, and have repeatedly pressed U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed by Trump in 2020, for a speedy trial in its prosecution of the former president. Trump, however, has requested that the trial does not begin until after the November election.
After a hearing regarding the trial schedule on Friday, Cannon failed to immediately rule on when the case will appear in court, although she hinted that she viewed prosecutors’ request as unrealistic. However, Kirschner, a former assistant U.S. attorney and frequent critic of the former president, said in a Friday video on YouTube that despite the delays, Trump should be convicted on his classified documents charges before polls open in November.
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“The evidence is strong,” Kirschner said. “So, at least, Donald Trump, it looks like he’ll be tried, will be convicted, will be sentenced, given the strength and the quality of the evidence. That case will be resolved well in advance of the 2024 presidential election and then the American voters will at least have some sense of who they’re casting their ballot for. Likely, a convicted felon.”
Newsweek reached out to Trump’s campaign team via email for comment.
Trump is also facing federal charges connected to his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election, which he lost to President Joe Biden, but is adamant was stolen from him due to widespread voter fraud. However, there’s no evidence to back up the former president’s claims. That case has been paused pending a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on whether Trump is covered by presidential immunity.
Georgia prosecutors have also charged Trump and 18 other co-defendants in connection to an unlawful conspiracy to overturn the state’s 2020 election results. That criminal case, however, is currently held up amid accusations that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ relationship with the top prosecutor on the case, Nathan Wade, created a conflict of interest in the investigation.
Meanwhile, Judge Juan Merchan ruled last month that a trial in New York will start on March 25 regarding charges against Trump that allege he falsified records in association with purported “hush money” payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels prior to the 2016 presidential election. Daniels claimed that she had an affair with Trump in 2006, which he has denied.
The former president has pleaded not guilty in those three criminal indictments as well.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.