Donald Trump sought on Friday to push back a federal trial on charges that he illegally held onto classified documents, as the former president battles to defer various legal showdowns beyond November’s election.
The trial in Florida is currently scheduled for May 20 but US Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is prosecuting the case, wants a July 8 start date.
That would take it close to the Republican nominating convention starting on July 15 in Milwaukee, where Mr Trump is set to be named his party's choice to run again against President Joe Biden in November.
But Mr Trump’s lawyers want US District Judge Aileen Cannon to agree at Friday’s hearing to set a date of August 12, extending the case into the autumn presidential campaign.
The strategy is clear - to draw out the Florida case and another federal lawsuit beyond the election in the hope that the Republican wins back the White House and can bring his presidential powers to bear on the prosecutions.
The strategy of running interference is paying off. On Monday, a trial was due to start in Washington on different federal charges that Mr Trump illegally sought to overturn his 2020 election loss to Mr Biden.
But that has been delayed indefinitely as the US Supreme Court deliberates on whether Mr Trump is right in claiming that he should not be prosecuted for actions he took as president.
This month he made a similar argument of presidential immunity in the Florida case, where Mr Smith alleges that he unlawfully kept classified information after leaving the White House in January 2021 and lied to US officials who tried to recover them.
A state trial against him in Georgia is meanwhile in limbo as a judge considers whether to remove the prosecutor, who has admitted to having a relationship with a lawyer she hired for the case.
The only one of Mr Trump's four pending criminal cases that is currently sure to go to trial before November revolves around porn star Stormy Daniels.
On March 25, jury selection will begin in a New York state court on charges that he falsified business records to cover up secret payments after an affair with the actress.
