Former President Donald Trump’s criminal trials are unlikely to start before the November 5 presidential election, according to Bill Shipley, a former federal prosecutor who has defended over 20 of the January 6 defendants as a private attorney. Shipley believes that Trump will almost certainly be convicted if the cases go ahead. The Democrats/Biden are desperate to have one of the four criminal cases against Trump go to trial, and convictions are almost certain regardless of the merits of the cases or the evidence.
Federal prosecutor Jack Smith has repeatedly complained that Trump’s lawyers are trying to delay both cases until after the election. 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. Trump’s attorneys have refused to access any file that Smith’s office has sent to them, including the documents they had requested and a proposed trial schedule.
Smith has also indicted Trump in Florida for allegedly hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate. The delays caused by the handling of the documents at the center of the case have led to delays in the case. Smith has accused Trump’s lawyers of deliberately delaying the case, including by asking for secure laptops that cannot be hacked. Judge Aileen Cannon has said that the delays have forced her to delay pre-trial hearings and draw up a new schedule.
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 the trial will continue after the November election and could continue after inauguration day in January 2025. Trump is due to go on trial in New York on March 25 for alleged hush payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
New York University law professor Stephen Gillers told Newsweek that the Florida trial will likely not go ahead before the election and that two of the other cases might be delayed beyond November. Gillers 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.
