Special counsel Jack Smith filed a motion to reject former President Donald Trump's request to delay the Florida classified documents trial until after the 2024 presidential election, arguing there is "no reason" to do so because the court has already rejected that in setting the trial for next May.
"None of the issues raised in the defendants' motion warrants the continuance they request," Smith argued in a Monday filing.
"The defendants provide no credible justification to postpone a trial that is still seven months away," Smith's prosecutors argued in the 13-page filing.
Trump's lawyers had argued "ongoing" issues with classified evidence and potential conflicts with the trial schedule in the Washington, D.C., case.
"The March 4, 2023 [2024], trial date in the District of Columbia, and the underlying schedule in that case, currently require President Trump and his lawyers to be in two places at once," Trump's legal team argued in a motion to U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon, requesting moving the Florida trial date, The Messenger reported.
Smith's prosecutors allege the Trump legal counselors have "distorted and exaggerated" their case and "paint a misleading portrait" of security clearance questions.
"The defendants make numerous allegations regarding their access to classified discovery arising from the status of secure facilities, their clearances, and other considerations," Monday's filing read. "Most of the allegations are inaccurate and incomplete; collectively they are misleading.
"The defendants' allegations regarding clearances and secure facilities vastly overstate the impact on their access to classified discovery and their ability to prepare for trial, and do not justify a continuance."
Smith urged to keep the May, 2024, trial date.
"There is no reason to adjourn the trial date," the filing concluded. "The defendants' motion should be denied."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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