Trump criminal case over alleged mishandling of classified documents is speeding toward a late summer jury trial

Former President Donald Trump's reckoning over the alleged mishandling of national defense information is blazing toward a late summer trial.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon set the date for Aug. 14, 2023, a little more than two months after Trump's indictment.

The case's rocket docket marks a follow-through on a promise made by Special Counsel Jack Smith on the day he unsealed Trump's indictment that his office "will seek a speedy trial in this matter."

Smith said that such velocity would be consistent with the "public interest and the rights of the accused."

Trump's 37-count indictment includes dozens of counts accusing him of violating the Espionage Act along with several others of conspiring to obstruct justice and making false statements to authorities. The former president was charged along with military veteran Walt Nauta, his personal assistant. His trial will be scheduled separately.

In a docket entry entered on Tuesday, Cannon set a brisk pace for an August trial and the resolution of key pretrial issues within weeks. So-called limine motions, arguing what the boundaries should be for admissible evidence, will be due on July 24.

The six-page order accompanying the docket entry suggests that the date is subject to change.

"This case is hereby set for a Criminal Jury Trial during the two-week period commencing August 14, 2023, or as soon thereafter as the case may be called," Cannon wrote.

Legal experts suggest that the trial date will likely be delayed.

"This is a typical 'rocket docket' timeline that will almost certainly be continued because of complications due to classified evidence," former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance wrote on Twitter. "But it's a good starting point."

National security attorney Brad Moss agreed that the date likely wouldn't hold.

"The date that matters is the deadline for pre-trial motions and motions in limine (to exclude arguments/evidence at trial)," Moss tweeted. "Those are due in four weeks. Trump barely has a defense team in place."

In a footnote, Cannon added that Nauta's trial will be set after his June 27 arraignment.

Developments in the special counsel's investigation could shake up the calendar. On Monday, a federal magistrate judge signed off on the government's proposed protective order designed, in part, to protect "ongoing investigations" and shield the identities of "uncharged individuals."

There will be a calendar call on Aug. 8 at 1:45 p.m. ET, before which attorneys for both parties will prepare questions for jury selection.

"Prior to Calendar Call, each party may file no more than 10 proposed voir dire questions (including any sub-parts) for the Court to consider asking of the venire," the order states. "The Court will not permit the backstriking of jurors."

If Trump were to change his plea, he must do so before 5 p.m. ET "on the last business day before trial is scheduled to begin."

Such an ambitious schedule, even if delayed, seems to ensure that even though the Department of Justice special counsel's criminal case against Trump was filed later than the criminal case in Manhattan, it will be tried first.

Trump's trial for allegedly falsifying business records pertaining to hush-money payments to pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels is scheduled for March 25, 2024.

The FBI seized more than 102 documents with classification markings at Mar-a-Lago, including 17 marked Top Secret and dozens of others marked Secret or Confidential. Prosecutors pointedly noted that the former president's private club and personal residence had a staff of more than 150 people and hosted more than 150 social events between January 2021 and August 2022, the relevant time frame of the indictment.