Five things you missed from the Trump and Nauta hearing in Fort Pierce
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FORT PIERCE — The first pretrial hearing for the United States v. Donald Trump and Waltine Nauta took place Tuesday afternoon at the Alto Lee Adams Sr. U.S. Courthouse here.
The nearly two-hour hearing included arguments on how classified documents would be handled and when the trial would begin. The defense and prosecution sparred over a start date.
Here are five things you missed from the Trump and Nauta hearing.
Who was at the hearing?
Attorneys for both Trump and Nauta were present in the courtroom. Nauta showed up to the hearing; Trump did not.
Trump’s lawyers:
Todd Blanche
Christopher Michael Kise
Nauta’s lawyers:
Sasha Dadan
Stanley Woodward Jr.
The Justice Department, which proposed beginning trial Dec. 11, was represented in court by attorneys David Harbach, Julie Edelstein and Jay Bratt.
When will Trump’s trial begin?
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon did not officially set the trial date. While a two-week trial initially was scheduled to start Aug 14, the Justice Department asked for it to be pushed back to Dec. 11. Cannon probed the prosecution’s December date, weighing if the complexity of the case could warrant more time for attorneys to prepare.
Trump lawyers Blanche and Kise proposed beginning the trial in mid-November 2024.
Pushing the trial to late 2024 would, in part, be because of the amount of evidence — including more than 1.1 million pages of documents and more than three years of video — and national attention on Trump, who is running for president in next year’s election, would make it difficult to find a fair, unbiased jury.
Where was Trump during the hearing?
The former president was in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for a televised town hall with Fox News host Sean Hannity. After his taping, Trump arrived unannounced at a Linn County (Iowa) Republican Party meeting with more than 150 in attendance.
Trump made headlines from afar just before the hearing, confirming he is a “target” of a federal investigation into the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Trump said Special Counsel Jack Smith has given him four days to appear before a grand jury.
Trump waived his appearance during this pretrial hearing but may be unable to do so once the trial begins.
What was Fort Pierce like during the hearing?
Aside from increased security around the courthouse, Fort Pierce was mostly immune to the clamor seen during Trump’s arraignment last month in Miami. Some onlookers, though, did make their way to the courthouse.
Lynn Rowe, 68, of Fort Pierce, parked behind the courthouse on Tuesday afternoon in an effort to see the former president.
“I was just hoping to catch a glimpse,” she said.
A marquee in front of Dirty Martini Restaurant & Steakhouse read: “President Trump, Fort Pierce welcomes you.”
What’s next?
Cannon issued no order rescheduling the trial but promised to do so soon.
Trump and Nauta have pleaded not guilty to 37 counts and six counts, respectively, in mishandling hundreds of classified documents uncovered Aug. 8, 2022, in Trump’s permanent residence at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach County.
Staff writers Antonio Fins, Melissa Holsman and Hannah Phillips contributed to this report.
Gianna Montesano is TCPalm’s trending reporter. You can contact her at gianna.montesano@tcpalm.com, 772-409-1429, or follow her on Twitter @gonthescene.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Donald Trump and Walt Nauta pretrial hearing in Fort Pierce
