Aileen Cannon may have just “screwed” Donald Trump: Legal analyst

Granting Donald Trump‘s request to delay his classified-documents case in Florida could present the opportunity for the former president’s other criminal cases to head to trial ahead of the presidential election, according to Glenn Kirschner, legal analyst and former federal prosecutor.

Trump is facing a plethora of legal troubles while campaigning for a second shot at the White House, and several of the cases against him are scheduled to begin trial before the November 2024 election, starting with the former president’s federal election subversion case, which is set to begin March 4.

The ex-president, who maintains innocence in all 91 felony charges spread over four criminal indictments against him, has pleaded to push his trial dates until after next fall. The requests have been dismissed in several cases, although Trump may get his wish in Florida, where presiding federal Judge Aileen Cannon—a Trump appointee who has faced accusations of being biased toward the former president—has agreed to revisit the trial schedule set for the investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents after leaving the White House.

That indictment, brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith, is slated for court in May.

While speaking with progressive political commentator Brian Tyler Cohen on Thursday, Kirschner, a staunch Trump critic, said it is likely that the former president’s trial date set in Florida will be delayed by Cannon, but added that doing so could “screw” over Trump, given that it may allow prosecutors in Georgia—where Trump is facing a sprawling racketeering case in which he’s accused of attempting to overturn the state’s 2020 election results—to get their desired trial date.

“Judge Cannon may have been trying to help Donald Trump out a little bit, [but] she may have put him right in the soup,” Kirschner said during an episode of Cohen’s podcast.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, leading the investigation into Trump’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) charges in Georgia, requested last week that her case head to trial on August 5. Willis’ office in August charged Trump and 18 co-defendants, accusing them in a scheme to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.

Cohen followed up on Kirschner’s comments, asking if Cannon “may have actually screwed” Trump by “opening up his schedule” in the event that the Florida case is delayed.

“Yeah, she may have delayed Donald Trump right into an August RICO trial date,” Kirschner responded. “And here’s what people should know. You know, folks might say … ‘If he’s scheduled to go to trial in Florida in his documents, obstruction, espionage case beginning on May 20, couldn’t they finish that trial, and then go right into the early August trial in Georgia?’ The answer is almost certainly no.”

“Why do I say that?” the former prosecutor continued. “Because if a defendant is in trial for two or three months, even if technically that defendant is no longer in that trial beginning on August 5, there’s not a judge in the land who will say, ‘OK, Trump, you were just in trial for three months … Now we’re going to make you and your defense team go right into a trial in another jurisdiction without a breather.'”

Experts have warned that delaying Trump’s case in Florida could have other political and legal repercussions. Some critics have feared that if criminal trials are not completed before the 2024 election, the former president could pardon himself once in the White House if he wins reelection. Trump could also order the Justice Department to shut down the investigation against him.

Following Trump’s March 4 trial date connected to federal allegations that he attempted to overturn the 2020 election, the former president is scheduled to head to Manhattan court March 25 over charges connected to hush-money payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign. A defamation suit brought against Trump by former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll is also scheduled for court on January 15—the same day as the Iowa caucuses.

Newsweek reached out to Trump’s campaign for comment Thursday night.