Motion after motion puts Trump Florida case in slow motion as 3-day hearing begins

The federal judge presiding over the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump is hearing arguments Friday on a long-shot defense effort to get the indictment thrown out on grounds that the prosecutor who brought the charges was illegally appointed. The arguments Friday over the legality of special counsel Jack Smith’s appointment kick off a three-day hearing that is set to continue next week and bring further delays to a criminal case that had been scheduled for trial last month but has been snarled by a pileup of unresolved legal disputes. The trial date has been indefinitely canceled.