Former President Donald Trump’s classified document suffered a major setback on Tuesday, dealing with Special Counsel Jack Smith’s wish for a pre-election trial a devastating blow.

United States District Judge Aileen M. Cannon, who is presiding over the case, postponed the trial date indefinitely. Cannon’s decision effectively killed any hope Jack Smith may have of trying Trump before the election.

Cannon cited the number of outstanding issues, including various pre-trial motions, as the reason she canceled the initial May 20 date.

“The Court also determines that finalization of a trial date at this juncture — before resolution of the myriad and interconnected pre-trial and CIPA issues remaining and forthcoming — would be imprudent and inconsistent with the Court’s duty to fully and fairly consider the various pending pre-trial motions before the Court, critical CIPA issues, and additional pre-trial and trial preparations necessary to present this case to a jury,” The judge wrote. “The Court therefore vacates the current May 20, 2024, trial date (and associated calendar call), to be reset by separate order following resolution of the matters before the Court, consistent with Defendants’ right to due process and the public’s interest in the fair and efficient administration of justice.”

The judge’s order comes after Smith’s team admitted to the judge that they had tampered with some of the documents, and the former president was charged with mishandling.

Smith had previously told the judge that the documents were still in their original boxes. Smith’s team made a complete U-turn last week when they admitted that the documents were no longer in the exact sequence they were when taken from Trump’s Mar-A-Lago estate.

Following Smith’s admission to evidence tampering, former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe likened the case against the former president to the Russia collusion investigation.

“What Jack Smith admitted in court this week was that, in his words, they mishandled the classified documents and misrepresented those to the court,” Ratcliffe said during his “Sunday Morning Futures” appearance with host Maria Bartiromo. “This reeks of Crossfire Hurricane, when the Obama-Biden administration fabricated evidence before the FISA court, lied to the court about it to pursue Donald Trump. And now we’re seeing it again in this classified documents case. The judge could dismiss this case at any point in time.”