JUST IN: Trump Gets Encouraging News From Judge In Mar-A-Lago Case: ‘Unreasonable’

Former President Donald Trump appears on track to secure another legal victory as U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon is expected to once again push back the former president’s trial date for Special Counsel Jack Smith’s classified documents case.

Smith is currently requesting a trial schedule that will begin on July 8, just one week before the Republican National Convention. Judge Cannon has hinted that the trial will be pushed back even further, however, calling Smith’s demands “unreasonable.”

During the four-hour hearing on Friday, Smith argued that the DOJ’s policy of not bringing criminal charges against elected officials within 60 days of an election does not apply to Trump’s political schedule, as the case was brought more than a year before the November election. “We’re in full compliance with that policy,” a prosecutor with Smith’s office told the judge, according to CNN legal reporter Paula Reid.

The hearing ended without a definitive ruling from Cannon, though she did hint that the July 8 trial date is increasingly out of the question, calling the request “unreasonable.”

🚨 Special counsel tells says DOJ policy “discouraging public investigative actions 60 days before an election” does not apply to setting a trial date cases that have already been charged.
 “We’re in full compliance” with that policy,” prosecutor told Judge Cannon.

— Paula Reid (@PaulaReidCNN) March 1, 2024

The slow pace of the multiple criminal cases against former President Trump — all of which were brought a little over a year before his election rematch with President Biden — is generating concern among left-wing pundits and lawmakers who want to see the former president convicted prior to election day.

Smith’s January 6 case against the former president is currently facing numerous hurdles, including a Supreme Court review that will evaluate the merit of two of the four charges brought against Trump. Smith has drawn from a bizarre legal theory that has led to felony “obstruction of an official proceeding” convictions for hundreds of January 6 defendants who would have otherwise faced minor trespassing misdemeanors. The novel legal theory forms half of Smith’s indictment against Trump and is currently under review by the Supreme Court.

The nation’s highest court is also reviewing former President Trump’s claims of presidential immunity. If the Supreme Court rules in Trump’s favor, the entirety of Smith’s January 6 case would be dead in the water.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ RICO case against Trump and a number of his associates is also in jeopardy, as Willis has been subjected to a disqualification hearing over the past several weeks. Willis is accused of misusing federal funds and lying to the court about her relationship with Nathan Wade, a special prosecutor hired for the Trump case.

Willis and Wade testified that the relationship began after he was hired to work on the case, though former employees have offered conflicting testimony claiming that the relationship began as far back as 2020.

A final ruling in the Willis disqualification hearing is expected shortly.