Trump’s trial in classified documents case to begin in May 2024

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The trial of former US President Donald Trump over his handling of classified US government documents will begin on May 20, 2024, according to a US court order released on Friday.

Donald Trump’s lawyers declined to set a date, but said any hearing should take place after the November 2024 presidential election, when their client is a frontrunner for the Republican nomination.

District Judge Eileen Cannon did not comply with the demands of federal prosecutors, who had asked her to set a hearing for December.

Donald Trump has been indicted on 8 of 37 counts in an investigation into his handling of classified US government documents found at his Florida home last year.

The former president declared himself innocent.

Donald Trump is also scheduled to appear in a Manhattan court on March 25 in connection with payments made by his former lawyer to porn actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election campaign.

The former president also said Tuesday that he received a letter informing him that he was under investigation for his efforts to overturn the result of his loss to Democratic rival Joe Biden in the November 2020 presidential election.

(Reporting by Catherine Jackson, Jacqueline Thomson, French edition by Corentin Chapron, Editing by Camille Renaud)