Donald Trump’s trial over allegedly keeping classified documents including US nuclear secrets could be delayed until at least spring of 2024.
Federal prosecutors have sought a trial date of December, but US government secrecy rules could delay the trial until next year, The Guardian reported.
The former US president, who is seeking another run for the White House, faces 37 criminal counts, including mishandling classified documents and obstruction of justice.
However, his case will be tried under the rules laid out in the Classified Information Procedures Act, which requires the defence to disclose what classified information they want to use at trial in advance, so the courts can decide whether to add restrictions.
This means the case may take longer to get to trial compared to criminal cases without national security implications, the paper reported.
Mr Trump is thought to favour a delay in the case coming to trial and has insisted he is innocent of the charges.
It comes as he counter-sued a writer for defamation on Tuesday who a civil court found he had sexually abused.
A jury found that Trump had sexually abused and defamed E. Jean Carroll, a former advice columnist, but did not rape her.
She had accused him of attacking her at a department store dressing room in New York in the 1990s, which he had denied.
In the countersuit, Trump is seeking a retraction as well as unspecified compensation and damages.
Ms Carroll’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, said in a statement that Trump’s filing was “nothing more than his latest effort to delay accountability" for the jury’s verdict.
“Donald Trump again argues, contrary to both logic and fact, that he was exonerated by a jury that found that he sexually abused E. Jean Carroll," Kaplan said.
Trump, who has a comfortable lead over his Republican rivals for the party nomination, is appealing the verdict, which found he must pay $5 million in damages.
