Prospects are dwindling for any of the remaining criminal cases against former President Donald Trump to reach trial before the 2024 election, casting further doubt on whether they will ever see verdicts.
In Georgia and Florida, judges announced decisions expected to delay Trump’s cases and offered opportunities for him to score some pretrial wins.
The Georgia Court of Appeals ordered a stay on June 5 for all proceedings in the racketeering case against Trump in the state. It also scheduled for October reviewing Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee’s decision not to disqualify Fani Willis amid revelations about her affair with one of her top prosecutors.
John Malcolm, vice president at the conservative Heritage Foundation, told The Epoch Times: “With the Court of Appeals scheduling oral argument for Oct. 4 and putting the rest of the proceedings on hold, it is now certain that the case will not go to trial before the election.”
Judge Aileen Cannon, who is overseeing Trump’s Mar-a-Lago documents case, recently scheduled briefings on whether Special Counsel Jack Smith’s appointment was legal. That pushed back a three-day hearing originally scheduled this month to hash out discovery issues that have dominated litigation since the indictment.
That’s after Cannon indefinitely prolonged the pretrial process for a trial that was initially scheduled for May 20. “There are many legal and evidentiary issues still left to consider that make it doubtful that the case will go to trial before the election,” Malcolm said.
The Supreme Court has yet to issue a ruling on Trump’s immunity claims in Washington. However, it’s expected to this month with the potential of even more delays in his remaining criminal cases.
Experts have speculated that the justices will uphold some level of presidential immunity while directing the lower court to make changes based on their interpretation of immunity. The ruling could bounce back to the Supreme Court in a later appeal, as well as complicate the cases in Florida and Georgia.
In Florida, Cannon also set a June 11 deadline for the parties to brief the court on how the Supreme Court’s ruling in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) v. Community Financial Services Association of America bears on this case. She’s also set to hear arguments over Smith’s request for a gag order via Trump’s conditions of release.
Some have criticized the pace at which Cannon, a Trump appointee, is proceeding with the case. A former Florida judge, Jeff Swartz, told CNN: “I can come up with no other reason than she is purposefully avoiding ruling on certain matters and doing the best she can to delay the trial of this case as long as she possibly can.”
Cannon previously justified indefinitely delaying the trial date, stating that its finalization “would be imprudent and inconsistent with the court’s duty to fully and fairly consider the various pending pre-trial motions before the court.”
—Sam Dorman and Catherine Yang
The GOP team for the 2024 Congressional Baseball Game following a June 4, 2024, practice. Credit: Madeline Waschak/Office of Rep. Roger Williams (R-Texas).
BASEBALL DIAMOND MAY BE POLITICIANS’ BEST FRIEND
From Capitol Hill to the diamond, Republican and Democrat members of Congress will play on June 12 in the annual Congressional Baseball Game whose proceeds go to charities.
The game, which will be at Nationals Park, the home of the MLB’s Washington Nationals, will consist of Republican and Democrat fans in the lower section along first base and third base, respectively.
The Congressional Sports for Charity Foundation, which hosts the seven-inning game, is looking to bring in $2 million this year from ticket sales and sponsors to give to charities including the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington, according to the foundation’s president, Ryan Thompson.
The game began in 1909 but took prominence in 2017 when a Bernie Sanders-supporting gunman shot then-House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), causing him to be transported in a helicopter to a hospital where he underwent multiple surgeries.
During a GOP practice on June 4, after Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) hit an in-field home run and ran fast around the bases, Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.) shouted from the bleachers, “If the rest of the Senate could move that fast, that would be helpful!”
The manager of the GOP team is Rep. Roger Williams (R-Texas), who was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in 1971 but did not make it to the major leagues. Reps. Linda Sánchez (D-Calif.) and Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) are the managers of the Democrat team.
With the game, it becomes possible for a contentious political rivalry to be transformed into a friendly rivalry.
“We make really good friends on the other side of the aisle,” Scalise told The Epoch Times, adding that “it’s good” to get away from disagreements in the House as the game raises money for charity.
The game comes ahead of the presidential election.
“There’s always a lot more intensity when you’re in an election year, especially presidential election year, because you want the right kind of momentum going into November,” said Scalise. “But we especially want to win this year to set the table for what’s coming in November.”
“We want to beat them in June, and we’re going to beat them in November,” said Williams.
—Jackson Richman
BOOKMARKS
Former President Trump ally and former White House adviser Steve Bannon was ordered yesterday to surrender to prison by July 1, The Epoch Times’ Zachary Stieber reports. Bannon will serve a four-month sentence after he was held in contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with the defunct House Jan. 6 panel.
President Joe Biden was in Normandy, France yesterday where he delivered remarks commemorating the 80th anniversary of the D-Day attacks. The Epoch Times’ Emel Akan reports that the president used the speech to make a dig at critics of NATO, saying “Isolation was not the answer 80 years ago and is not the answer today.”
Hallie Biden, the president’s daughter-in-law, testified yesterday in first son Hunter Biden’s federal criminal trial in Delaware. The Epoch Times’ Jacob Burg and Stacy Robinson reports on allegations she made on the stand that Biden was using drugs during the period when he originally obtained the firearm. Meanwhile, The Epoch Times’ Jacob Burg reports, the president said he won’t pardon his son if he’s convicted in the case.
Speaker Mike Johnson appointed two conservatives to the powerful House Intelligence Committee, The Epoch Times’ Joseph Lord reported. The appointment of the two Trump allies, Reps. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) and Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) caused some controversy as the panel continues to try to recover from the period of hyper-partisanship that marked it during the Trump years.
