Legal Analyst Predicts Trump’s Pre-Trial Strategy: ‘Delay Delay Delay’

Attorney and legal commentator Mark Zaid predicted that former President Donald Trump‘s legal strategy amid his arraignment on federal charges will be “delay, delay, delay” until the 2024 presidential election is over.

Trump, who has remained the front-runner for the next Republican nomination since launching his reelection campaign in the fall, is facing 37 federal counts over his handling of classified documents upon leaving the White House. The Department of Justice (DOJ) says that Trump took the sensitive material to his private residence in Florida and obstructed governmental efforts to return the documents to the National Archives and Records Administration.

While speaking on MSNBC on Saturday, Zaid said, “I think the legal strategy of the Trump team is going to be to delay, delay, delay to get this past the 2024 election,” Zaid told anchor Alex Witt. “It’s in Trump’s interest to do so because obviously, if he could prevail in the election, the federal cases at least go away. He’ll be in charge of the Justice Department. There will be a lot of pretrial motions, particularly in the classified sphere.”

Zaid continued: “And this is where Judge [Aileen] Cannon, in taking little steps, could have a significant lengthy impact depending on how long that process takes. Some of these cases or some of the decisions can be immediately appealed up to the 11th Circuit as well. And so there are a lot of factors that will come to play. But don’t expect this to be going to trial anytime soon, no matter what Jack Smith says for a speedy trial.”

Dave Aronberg, State Attorney for Palm Beach County, where Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate is located, also agreed that this most likely will be Trump’s legal strategy moving forward.

While speaking to Newsweek on Saturday Aronberg said: “Jack Smith knows this and is working to speed things up. That’s why he didn’t request the usual pre-trial release conditions you would expect. He didn’t want any delays in litigating such matters. Judge Cannon has a lot of control over the timetable, which is concerning for prosecutors. But so far, so good, as Judge Cannon required defense lawyers to start getting their security clearances by Tuesday. That’s a quick turnaround.”

It is currently unknown when a trial could be set for the classified documents case, with the decision to be made by Judge Cannon, who was appointed to the bench by Trump and is facing calls to recuse herself from the case over concerns about her impartiality.

Meanwhile, political analyst and Dillard University professor Robert Collins also told Newsweek on Saturday that Trump’s strategy is to delay because he thinks he is going to win the presidential election and then “pardon himself.”

Collins continued: “I should point out most legal scholars do not think it is constitutional for a president to issue a self-pardon, although it’s [an] open question, and would need to be decided by the Supreme Court. Given that polling shows opinions about Trump don’t seem to be changing based on the indictments, I don’t think the timing of the trial will affect the trial verdict. The question of whether it will work or not depends on Judge Cannon. She can let him get away with it. Or she can decide to have a speedy trial.”