GEOFF BENNETT: Good evening, and welcome to the "NewsHour."

A federal judge today ordered that the trial in the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump begin on May 20, 2024.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon rejected the Justice Department's bid to try the case in December, as well as the former president's request for a delay until after the 2024 election.

The trial in Florida is one of many legal obligations Mr. Trump faces going into the 2024 election cycle, including federal and state criminal probes related to efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Let's turn now to former federal prosecutor Jessica Roth, also a professor of law at Cardozo School of Law.

Thank you for being with us.

And what's your assessment of this May 2024 trial date?

Which side does this scheduling benefit, assuming it holds?

JESSICA ROTH, Former Federal Prosecutor: Nobody got exactly what they wanted?

Former President Trump wanted the trial postponed indefinitely.

And so it was a defeat for him in that regard.

But the Department of Justice didn't get what it wanted exactly either.

They wanted to try this case in December.

I think that the May 2024 date is reasonable.

I think that it is consistent with other similar cases.

And I think, just as importantly, the reasoning that the judge explained in her order setting the new schedule was legally sound, given the extent of the discovery and the legal issues that will have to be litigated with respect to the use of classified information.

And I say that because I think it's important in the context of this case.

This judge issued rulings previously in related matters after the search of Mar-a-Lago before the charges were filed that were not legally sound, that were probably reversed by the appellate court, and that strongly suggested that she was showing preferential treatment to former President Trump.

And so I think the fact that the ruling was legally sound, in my opinion, is significant.

The real next test, however, will be whether the judge holds the defense, in particular, to the schedule that she has now set or whether she will let it slip further.

GEOFF BENNETT: Looking at the schedule, this May date falls pretty far into the 2024 election season.

The vast majority of state primaries will be finished by that point.

There will likely be a presumptive Republican nominee by that point, and it could very well be Donald Trump.

How, if at all, could that affect this case?

JESSICA ROTH: Well, the judge reserved judgment on whether she would at some future point take into consideration the status of former President Trump as potentially a future nominee in further scheduling considerations for the trial.

She said she didn't have to address that now for purposes of setting the schedule going forward, but she left open the door such that perhaps, if he is seeming to be the likely nominee at that point, his lawyers could raise the issue of whether or not the election, the campaign schedule out made it a hardship for him to actually have the trial as scheduled in May or would make it hard to seat an unbiased jury.

So it will -- remains to be seen whether or not she would entertain those arguments for a further postponement at that point.

But it's important to note that, if the trial were to slip past the general election, there's a very real prospect that it wouldn't happen at all, because, if former President Trump became president, again, he would likely direct his attorney general to drop the prosecution.

And so there's really a lot at stake for when this trial happens.

If it's postponed and beyond any election, the voters won't have information about whether or not he has been convicted of these very serious charges, which include willful retention of national defense information and obstruction of justice when they cast their vote, if that matters to them, but then also it may impact whether or not he is actually held accountable in a court of law for this conduct at all.

GEOFF BENNETT: Jessica Roth, thanks so much for your insight.

It's always a pleasure to speak with you.

JESSICA ROTH: Thank you.