A federal judge has set a date for ex-PresidentDonald Trump’s trial for alleged mishandling of classified documents for spring next year.
Judge Aileen Cannon set the case for 20 May although Trump had wanted the trial postponed until after the November 2024 presidential election.
The case will begin with the election campaign already underway.
Trump, 77, faces charges over the storage of sensitive files at his Florida home, which is also a golf resort.
Prosecutors allege he illegally kept secret documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after he left office and obstructed government efforts to retrieve them.
The former president has maintained his innocence and claims the case is a vendetta against him and an attempt to destroy his election campaign.
Judge Cannon said on Friday the two-week trial would take place in Fort Pierce, Florida.
The former president pleaded not guilty to 37 federal counts during an arraignment in Miami last month.
Lawyers for both sides argued in the Fort Pierce court earlier this week over when the case should be held.
Prosecutors said the evidence was not complicated and there was no need to delay the trial, requesting that it begins in December.
But lawyers for Trump had argued that the “extraordinary” nature of the case required more time to prepare.
They said their client could not get a fair trial before the November 2024 election.
Opinion polls suggest Trump is the clear front-runner in the race to become the Republican party candidate who will challenge the Democratic nominee next year.
But he is facing a number of legal obstacles including the The Mar-a-Lago case.
In April he was separately charged with falsifying business records in the state of New York.
He announced on social media this week that he expected to be arrested soon in connection with a federal inquiry into the US Capitol riot two years ago and his efforts to challenge the 2020 election results.
State prosecutors in Atlanta, Georgia, are also investigating whether the former president broke the law with his attempts to overturn the election results in that state three years ago.
Department of Justice-appointed special counsel Jack Smith is leading twin investigations into the Capitol riot and the Mar-a-Lago files.
In an indictment last month, prosecutors alleged that when Trump left office he took with hiom about 300 classified documents to his home in Palm Beach, Florida.
They allege he stored the sensitive documents in several spaces, including a ballroom and a bathroom.
According to prosecutors, Mr Trump also told a personal aide, Walt Nauta, to move boxes containing classified files from a storage room at the resort before federal investigators came to look for them.
Mr Nauta is also charged in the case and has pleaded not guilty.
