None of former President Donald Trump’s criminal trials will start before the November 5 presidential election, a former federal prosecutor predicted.
Bill Shipley, who spent 22 years as a federal prosecutor and recently defended more than 20 of the January 6 defendants as a private attorney, said Trump will almost certainly be convicted if the cases go ahead.
“I’ve said pretty much since day 1 that I didn’t think any of the cases would get to trial before the Nov. election,” he wrote Thursday on X, formerly Twitter. “There are 4 criminal cases pending against Trump and the Dems/Biden are desperate to have one of them go to trial. Given their locations, convictions are almost certain regardless of the merits of the cases or the evidence.”
Federal prosecutor Jack Smith, who is overseeing two of the criminal cases, has repeatedly complained that Trump’s lawyers are trying to delay both cases until after the election.
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The indictments include the federal election interference case in Washington, D.C., which was due to start on March 4 but has been put on hold while Trump appeals it on presidential immunity grounds. While the case is on hold, Trump’s lawyers have refused to open any file sent to them by Smith’s office, including a proposed trial schedule and documents they had requested.
Smith has also indicted Trump in Florida for allegedly hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate. That case has been beset with delays caused by the handling of the documents at the center of the case.
Smith has accused Trump’s lawyers of deliberately delaying the case, including by asking for secure laptops that cannot be hacked. Smith complained to Judge Aileen Cannon that Trump’s lawyers had been using the requested secure laptops for weeks and had even used them to write court briefs.
Cannon has said that the delays have forced her to delay pre-trial hearings and draw up a new schedule. However, she has not yet delayed the trial past its May start.
Trump was also indicted in Georgia for alleged interference in the 2020 election in the state. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has said that, with a start date in August, the trial will continue after the November election and could continue after inauguration day in January 2025.
Finally, Trump is due to go on trial in New York on March 25 for alleged hush payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Newsweek sought email comment on Thursday from Trump’s lawyer. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges and remains the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
New York University law professor Stephen Gillers told Newsweek on Thursday that the Florida trial will likely not go ahead before the election and that two of the other cases might be delayed beyond November.
He said that the appeals court has not given any indication about when it might rule on Trump’s presidential immunity in the federal election case in Washington.
“We can only talk about probabilities,” Gillers said. “A month ago, it was probable that the D.C. trial would go ahead in early March as planned, but the odd silence of the circuit court on the immunity claim changes that. On the other hand, the court might reject immunity and end the stay of district court proceedings tomorrow, which can enable a trial by early or late April.
“The Florida case was never likely to go to trial before Election Day. The judge does not seem eager to hold a trial and the defense motions have offered her ways to delay it.”
He said the Georgia court case is still scheduled for August.
“I put the likelihood of that at better than 50/50,” he said. “The Willis-Wade relationship has created sideshow inquiries, including in professional discipline, but whatever the facts, they should not stop the trial or disqualify Willis. A wild card here is if oversight authorities in Georgia take the case away from Willis. If so, the case will not go to trial before Election Day.”
In the Georgia case, Willis and Nathan Wade, a special prosecutor working on the case, have been subpoenaed to appear at a hearing about allegations they were involved in an improper romantic relationship.
The Stormy Daniels case is the most likely to go ahead on time, he said.
“There is no reason to delay the New York State case, which could still meet its late March trial date if the trial in D.C. is pushed into May or June,” he said. “So right now, pending further developments in D.C. and Georgia, it looks like the N.Y. case may go first and close to schedule. But I emphasize that the odds can change tomorrow.”
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.