U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon set a trial date of May 20, 2024, for former President Donald Trump's classified documents case, according to court documents released Friday.

What You Need To Know

  • A federal judge set a trial date of May 20, 2024, for former President Donald Trump's classified documents case

  • Trump was charged in June with more than three dozen felonies related to the alleged mishandling of hundreds of classified documents, including willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and making false statements

  • The former president has denied any wrongdoing and has repeatedly decried the investigation as politically motivated

  • Trump could also face additional charges in the coming months; the former president indicated this week that he is a target in a separate probe by the Justice Department into efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election

Trump was charged in June with more than three dozen felonies related to the alleged mishandling of hundreds of classified documents, including willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and making false statements. He entered a not guilty plea in a Miami courtroom last month. The former president has denied any wrongdoing and has repeatedly decried the investigation as politically motivated.

The trial is set to begin less than two months before the Republican National Convention, and likely after the GOP nominee for president is all but officially set.

The decision is somewhat of a blow to the former president, whose legal team was pushing for the trial to be scheduled after the 2024 presidential election. Federal prosecutors had requested the trial begin in December, but Cannon called that date "atypically accelerated and inconsistent with ensuring a fair trial," citing the sheer amount of evidence that would need to be considered by then.

"By conservative estimates, the amount of discovery in this case is voluminous and likely to increase in the normal course as trial approaches," Cannon, a Trump appointee, wrote in her order. "And, while the Government has taken steps to organize and filter the extensive discovery, no one disagrees that Defendants need adequate time to review and evaluate it on their own accord."

A spokesperson for Trump's presidential campaign cheered the ruling, calling it "a major setback to the DOJ’s crusade to deny President Trump a fair legal process."

"The extensive schedule allows President Trump and his legal team to continue fighting this empty hoax," the spokesman continued before baselessly accusing President Joe Biden of weaponizing the Justice Department against him, calling it "a disgraceful and un-American abuse of power."

The May trial date will come just months after a separate trial in New York, where Trump faces dozens of charges related to alleged hush money payments to an adult film star before the 2016 presidential election. Trump has similarly denied any wrongdoing in the case and blasted it as a partisan "witch hunt."

Trump could also face additional charges in the coming months. The former president indicated this week that he is a target in a separate probe by the Justice Department into efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. A district attorney in Georgia is also set to announce charges in a separate probe into efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the state's election results.