Former President Donald Trump’s legal team is preparing for a lengthy trial in the classified documents case in Florida.
“It’s potentially a six to seven-week trial,” attorney Todd Blanche said during a Tuesday hearing, according to the Messenger.
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Blanche also noted that prosecutors estimated they would require 21 days to make their side of the case and that challenges anticipated with jury selection could add to that duration, the outlet reported.
The glimpse at a potential trial length comes as lawyers for Trump, the 2024 GOP front-runner, seek to push the proceedings until after the presidential election because, they say, a fair trial is not possible ahead of it.
Special counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the 38-count indictment against Trump and aide Walt Nauta, is aiming for a Dec. 11 start date, per court filings.
Smith revealed in June that a grand jury had indicted Trump on charges of willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and withholding a document or record, among other charges.
Trump has maintained his innocence in several posts on his social media platform Truth Social, at one point calling the indictment “the most evil and heinous abuse of power in the history of our country.” He has characterized Smith as a “thug” with a political agenda.
This month, Smith asked that the court grant a protective order in the case, which centers on classified documents, to manage access to those documents ahead of the special counsel providing discovery on them to the defense team.
Smith told the court Trump’s team planned to object “to certain provisions of the proposed protective order, but did not specify any such provisions.”
In her first decision of the case, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon denied Smith’s request on Tuesday over “lack of meaningful conferral,” indicating the special counsel would need to further discuss stipulations of the protective order with Trump’s team before Cannon would make a ruling on it.
Cannon did not make a decision on trial timing during the hearing but has indicated it will not occur before Smith’s requested date in December.
Trump’s legal team declined to comment on the matter.
