Trump trial on classified documents set for May 2024

A US judge has ordered Donald Trump's trial for mishandling top secret documents to begin in May of next year, at the height of what is expected to be a bitter presidential election campaign.

On Friday, US District Court Judge Aileen Cannon set the start of the jury trial of the former president –– the first ever to face criminal charges –– for May 20, 2024.

Prosecutors had asked for the trial to begin in December of this year, while Trump's defence attorneys had requested that it be held after the November 2024 election.

Cannon said she was setting the start of the trial for May to give both sides time to process more than 1.1 million pages of discovery evidence and confront the challenge of handling the classified documents at the heart of the case.

"No one disagrees that Defendants need adequate time to review and evaluate it on their own accord," said Cannon, a Trump appointee who was randomly assigned to the high-stakes case.

The trial will be held at a federal courthouse in Fort Pierce, a city about 130 miles (210 kilometres) north of Miami in a part of Florida handily won by Trump in the 2016 and 2020 presidential contests.

Trump aide also charged

The 77-year-old Trump is the clear frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, and the trial will begin near the end of the primary campaign to select the party's candidate.

The Republican National Convention, where the nominee will be selected, is to take place July 15-18 in Milwaukee but most of the significant primary contests will have already taken place by May 20.

The trial will not stop the onetime reality television star from campaigning, but a criminal defendant is generally required to be present during the proceedings, which are expected to last weeks, if not months.

Trump pleaded not guilty last month to some three dozen criminal counts for allegedly refusing to return sensitive government records he took when he left the White House in 2021.

According to the indictment from special counsel Jack Smith, the former president stashed hundreds of classified documents in cardboard boxes at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.

Trump kept the files –– which included records from the Pentagon, CIA and National Security Agency –– unsecured at Mar-a-Lago, where large social events were regularly held, the indictment says.

The documents were kept at various locations at the estate including a ballroom, a bathroom, Trump's bedroom and a storage room, it says.

Trump faces 31 counts of "willful retention of national defence information" relating to specific documents. A conviction on each count carries up to 10 years in prison.