When Judge Aileen M. Cannon assumed management of the case stemming from former President Donald J. Trump’s indictment for placing nationwide safety secrets and techniques in danger, she set the stage for the trial to be held with a regional jury pool made up largely of counties that Mr. Trump gained handily in his two earlier campaigns.

She signaled that the trial would happen within the federal courthouse the place she usually sits, in Fort Pierce, on the northern finish of the Southern District of Florida. The area that feeds potential jurors to that courthouse is made up of 1 swing county and 4 others which can be ruby purple of their political leanings and that Mr. Trump gained by substantial margins in each 2016 and 2020.

She left open the chance that the trial may very well be moved — and political leanings will not be essentially indicative of how a jury will determine — however the truth that the trial is anticipated to attract jurors who dwell in locations that tilt Republican has caught the eye of Mr. Trump’s allies and veterans of Florida courts.

“For years, it’s been a very conservative venue for plaintiffs’ lawyers,” mentioned John Morgan, a trial lawyer who based a big private damage agency. Describing the assorted counties that feed into Fort Pierce, he mentioned, “It is solid, solid Trump country.”

In Okeechobee County, a rural county the place simply over 16,000 folks voted within the 2020 election, Mr. Trump gained 71.5 % of the vote, in line with the county’s election tally. In Highlands County, a rural space the place greater than 52,000 folks voted in that election, Mr. Trump gained with 66.8 % of the vote.

In Martin County, the place greater than 98,000 folks voted, Mr. Trump acquired 61.8 % of the vote. In Indian River County, which incorporates Vero Beach and the place greater than 97,000 votes had been solid, Mr. Trump acquired 60.2 % of the vote.

Only St. Lucie County, the place about 172,000 votes had been solid, is a swing district. Mr. Trump eked out a victory there over President Biden in 2020 with 50.4 % of the ballots solid, the information reveals, and likewise gained the county narrowly in 2016.

Dave Aronberg, an outgoing Florida state lawyer in Palm Beach County, mentioned he might recall few main or politically delicate circumstances within the Fort Pierce courthouse. He agreed that the Fort Pierce counties present a “much more conservative jury pool,” though he advised that numerous potential jurors may very well be drawn from St. Lucie, which is extra politically various.

Judge Cannon, who was appointed by Mr. Trump in 2020, disclosed in an order on Tuesday that the trial and all of the hearings linked to it could doubtless be held in Fort Pierce, about 120 miles north of Miami alongside the east coast of Florida.

She left open the opportunity of finally shifting the trial, noting in her order that “modifications” might “be made as necessary as this matter proceeds.”

The trial of a former president who can be the front-runner for the 2024 Republican nomination is more likely to contain substantial safety points in addition to logistical challenges given the crush of curiosity within the case.

When Mr. Trump was arraigned this month, the continuing befell on the giant federal courthouse advanced in Miami, doubtless as a result of the obligation Justice of the Peace assigned to the preliminary listening to was based mostly there. But now that Judge Cannon will deal with the rest of the case, it grew to become her prerogative to maneuver it to Fort Pierce, one among 4 different cities within the Southern District of Florida to have a federal courthouse. (Courthouses in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach sit in counties that Mr. Biden gained in 2020.)

The Fort Pierce courthouse, which sits on a busy state freeway a couple of blocks from the water, is Judge Cannon’s house base. She is the only district decide working from the constructing.

First the Justice Department after which the particular counsel, Jack Smith, investigated Mr. Trump’s mishandling of labeled paperwork for months in entrance of a grand jury in Washington. Had the case been prosecuted there, the previous president and his allies would have nearly actually raised considerations in regards to the equity of the jury pool within the metropolis.

Many rioters charged in reference to the Capitol assault on Jan. 6, 2021, sought to maneuver their trials from Washington by claiming that native residents had been largely liberals.

But not one of many quite a few makes an attempt to maneuver the trials elsewhere was authorised by a decide. And Mr. Trump’s advisers are properly conscious that Florida, which Mr. Trump carried twice, is a extra helpful place for this specific defendant.

Mr. Aronberg advised that Judge Cannon’s order permitting flexibility may very well be a sign of a change down the highway.

“I’m not convinced this case is going to go in Fort Pierce,” he mentioned, predicting a possible transfer to West Palm Beach, which might put it within the county the place Mr. Trump lives and the place the labeled paperwork in query had been saved after he left workplace.