WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th July, 2023) The US government asked a court to deny former President Donald Trump's and his assistant co-defendant Waltine Nauta's motion to reschedule the trial over alleged mishandling of classified documents until after the 2024 presidential election, according to a court filing.
"There is no basis in law or fact for proceeding in such an indeterminate and open-ended fashion, and the Defendants provide none," the government said in a reply to the motion on Thursday. "(T)he Court should reject Defendants' invitation to defer consideration of a trial date, and should set jury selection to begin on December 11, 2023."
The government pointed out in its reply that Trump's and Nauta's claims that they cannot receive a fair trial prior to the conclusion of the next presidential election and request to not even consider a new trial date until some unspecified later time have no basis in law, the filing said.
Trump's lawyers filed a motion to delay his trial on July 11, saying that during the upcoming presidential cycle, there will be no conducive circumstances to select jurors and secure a fair and impartial adjudication.
The lawyers also said that the Trump campaign requires a "tremendous amount" of time and energy and that is why he and Nauta would be busy until the election day of November 5, 2024.
In June, prosecutors charged Trump with 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information, one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, one count of withholding a document or record, one count of corruptly concealing a document or record, one count of concealing a document in a Federal investigation, scheming to conceal, and making false statements and representations.
