Former President Donald Trump is in the "best case scenario" in his current Manhattan criminal trial, as some of his other legal trials have been delayed, an ex-aide to the former president said.
On Wednesday, Sarah Matthews, a former White House deputy press secretary under Trump, appeared on CNN's Newsroom with Jim Acosta to talk about the different legal woes the former president is facing including his criminal trial in Manhattan for alleged hush money payments made to former adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016.
When asked her thoughts on the possibility that Trump's other federal cases may not happen before the election, Matthews said, "as you said, he seems to be catching every break at every turn. This is the best case scenario for him right now."
"I have always said that I believe out of all the cases, the hush money payment case is the least consequential and so, the fact that voters are probably not going to see these trials on classified documents and January 6 happen before they head to the ballot box in November is quite disappointing," Matthews said. "The charges that he's facing are much more severe in those cases and so I do wish that voters would be able to have that knowledge heading into election day."
The comments from Matthews come shortly after Judge Aileen Cannon gave Trump a legal win this week by granting him a delay in his case involving the alleged mishandling of classified documents in Florida.
On Monday, Judge Cannon temporarily stayed a May 9 deadline for Trump and his two co-defendants in the federal case to submit court filings. Trump has denied any wrongdoing in the federal indictment for his alleged mishandling of classified documents.
The trial was scheduled to start on May 20, but Cannon did not immediately set a new date for Trump to file his CIPA-related documents, potentially increasing the chances that the trial won't happen before the 2024 election in November.
Additionally, on Wednesday, an appeals court in Georgia agreed to consider Trump's appeal of the disqualification of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in his election interference case in that state. Judge Scott McAfee previously ruled that Willis could stay on the case following a trial over her relationship with attorney Nathan Wade.
McAfee ruled that Willis could remain on the case if Wade stepped down, but Trump's legal team filed an appeal to McAfee's ruling. Wednesday's decision is highly likely to delay a potential trial in the RICO case.
Newsweek reached out to Trump's spokesperson via email for comment.
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Matthew Impelli is a Newsweek staff writer based in New York. His focus is reporting social issues and crime. In ... Read more
