MIAMI — Donald Trump’s arraignment took only 45 minutes on Tuesday in Miami federal court, where the former president sat silently the entire time, but it’s likely to be more than a year before his historic classified documents case goes to trial — even possibly beyond the November 2024 presidential election.
Trump, 77, who pleaded not guilty through his lawyers, is entitled to a “speedy” trial within 70 days of being formally charged with deliberately withholding national security records from the U.S. government. But speed won’t be the operative word to describe the path forward to his trial, legal experts said, regardless of the Southern District of Florida’s reputation for having a “rocket docket” in which judges typically move criminal cases quickly.
“The Trump documents case isn’t going to trial anytime soon and probably won’t be ready for trial before spring 2024,” said Miami attorney Joseph DeMaria, who once worked in the Justice Department’s organized crime task force in South Florida “But even then, if the judge grants any defense motions before trial, the government would appeal, taking up even more time. Then you’re looking at the summer of 2024 with the presidential election around the corner. It could easily be delayed until 2025.”
