At this point, I fully expect Donald Trump to be indicted by Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis. I think I might even know when it will happen. According to reporting from the New York Times, the charges will be considered by a grand jury due to sit from July 31 to Aug. 18. Yesterday, Willis took a telling step by writing a letter to the judges in the downtown Atlanta courthouse asking them not to schedule any trials in the first two weeks of August. She also announced that her staff will mainly work from home while that grand jury is sitting, with only her “leadership team” and “all armed investigators” working out of their offices.

Ms. Willis, who has had some staff members outfitted with bulletproof vests, is clearly concerned about the potential for unrest after any indictments in the Trump inquiry. In a letter sent to the local sheriff last month, she wrote of “the need for heightened security and preparedness in coming months due to this pending announcement.”

You may remember that Willis is using a highly unusual process whereby a “special” grand jury has already met and reportedly “recommended more than a dozen people for indictments.” But that grand jury didn’t have the authority to actually make indictments, so Willis has to present the evidence all over again. There could be some high profile names involved, including former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and South Carolina’s senior U.S. Senator, Lindsey Graham. But I don’t think Willis would be acting so alarmed about the security risks if she didn’t intend Trump to be on the list.

If I’m right, the news will drop in the first half of August which is the slowest media period of the whole year with Congress in recess and many people on vacation and away from their television sets. It’s just in time to get things started before the unofficial start of the 2024 presidential cycle which begins the day after Labor Day. However, it should be noted that the Republican Party has announced that the first presidential debate has been scheduled to take place in Milwaukee in August. While the exact date and qualification criteria have not been announced, it sounds like Trump is already noncommittal about attending. That’s probably wise because he could be under arrest or scheduled for a preliminary hearing.

Keep in mind, also, that August 8 is the deadline for all pretrial motions to be filed in the case against Donald Trump in Manhattan. The next actual court date isn’t scheduled until December 4, and prosecutors are asking for the trial to begin in January which coincides with the Republican caucus in Iowa and primaries in New Hampshire and South Carolina. Understandably, the Trump legal team wants the trial delayed until next spring, by which time he might have already secured enough delegates to be the presumptive nominee.

It’s hard to say when we might hear from Special Counsel Jack Smith. Once he secured the testimony of Mike Pence, many expected indictments to soon follow. But it appears he’s now looking into “potential wire fraud in post-election fundraising,” which was not part of his original purview. Could this cause some delay? You’d think Smith would have enough alacrity to assure any charges are known before Republicans begin voting for their presidential nominee. If at all possible, I think he’ll want to beat Fani Willis to the punch, and that means he needs to move before the beginning of August.