Former U.S. President Donald Trump was seen golfing on Sept. 13, 2022.
Federal prosecutors filed a photo of documents recovered from Mar-a-Lago in early August 2022. (Photo of Trump by Win McNamee/Getty Images; photo of Mar-a-Lago documents via a federal court filing.)
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.
There will be a calendar call on Aug. 8 at 1:45 p.m. ET.
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.
This is a developing story. Please check back later for more details.
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