(CN) — Prosecutors accused Donald Trump’s defense attorneys of manipulating a federal judge as they seek to delay the former president’s trial on charges he mishandled classified documents at his Florida resort.
The claim came after defense attorneys argued at a court hearing Wednesday that the former president’s complex legal challenges — four separate criminal cases and an ongoing civil trial — made preparations for the May trial impossible.
U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, appeared sympathetic to the attorneys' concerns, saying at the hearing that she has "a hard time seeing how realistically this (current schedule) would work,” according to the Associated Press.
But the Department of Justice wrote in a filing Thursday morning that defense attorneys may not be as harried as they claim. After Wednesday’s hearing, Trump’s counsel filed a motion seeking to delay a March trial date in Washington, D.C., where the former president is accused of attempting to undermine the 2020 election.
The defense told Cannon that scheduling conflicts in the election interference case were one reason why the Florida trial should be delayed until November 2024 — after the presidential election. Prosecutors countered that the Washington case should not factor into the judge’s decision on whether to delay the Florida trial.
“Defendant Trump’s actions in the hours following the hearing in this case illustrate the point and confirm his overriding interest in delaying both trials at any cost,” prosecutors wrote.
They warned that the court should not allow itself to be “manipulated in this fashion.”
Cannon told the attorneys Wednesday she would issue an order on the schedule “as soon as possible.”
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