Donald Trump expected to attend Thursday hearing at the federal courthouse in Fort Pierce

FORT PIERCE − Former President Donald Trump is expected to attend a court hearing Thursday in Fort Pierce in his federal case alleging the mishandling of classified documents after leaving the White House, a Monday court filing shows.

The hearing at the Alto Lee Adams, Sr., U.S. Courthouse, 101 S. U.S. 1, begins at 10 a.m. before U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon, when Trump’s attorneys are scheduled to argue the criminal case should be thrown out.

Trump’s presence Thursday isn’t required, but in asking for extra time to respond to pending motions, his lawyers on Monday indicated in a court filing that Trump and co-defendants Walt Nauta, his valet and bodyguard, and Carlos de Oliveira, property manager at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, would participate in the hearing.

The filing stated: "The reasons for this request are that (1) the defendants and counsel need to travel to Fort Pierce prior to March 14 in order to participate in the hearing, which is time we would otherwise use to prepare the other reply submissions; (2) President Trump and counsel need to spend time preparing for the oral argument, which is time we would otherwise use to prepare the other reply submissions."

Trump, Nauta, and de Oliveira are criminally charged with mishandling federal documents uncovered on Aug. 8, 2022, at Mar-a-Lago.

All three have pleaded not guilty.

Trump faces 41 charges of keeping and hiding documents with classified markings at his Mar-a-Lago estate. More than 300 classified documents were recovered from Mar-a-Lago more than a year after Trump left the White House, most under subpoena in June 2022 or during the FBI search in August 2022.

He is charged with the willful retention of national defense information in addition to counts such as conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document, corruptly concealing a document and making false statements.

Cannon on Thursday is expected to hear arguments related to defense requests to dismiss the charges in part because of the Presidential Records Act, and a defense claim of presidential immunity.

How many hearings has Trump attended in Fort Pierce?

It will be the third time Trump has been at the federal courthouse in Fort Pierce.  He attended hearings on Feb. 12 and March 1 related to classified records evidence and whether the current May 20 trial date should be pushed off.

During the March 1 hearing, which was open to the public and members of the media, attorneys spent hours discussing the May 20 trial date. Cannon has not ruled yet whether that date will change, but she’s indicated it’s likely.

Federal prosecutors urged Cannon to move the trial to July 8.

Defense lawyers though, said there was no way to hold a fair trial this year but nonetheless proposed Aug. 12 as a possible date to begin jury selection.

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Melissa E. Holsman is the legal affairs reporter for TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers and is writer and co-host of "Uncertain Terms," a true-crime podcast. Reach her at  melissa.holsman@tcpalm.com. If you are a subscriber, thank you. If not, become a subscriber to get the latest local news on the Treasure Coast.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Former President Donald Trump expected at Thursday court hearing