Live updates: Trump attends Fla. hearing over trial date. Willis misconduct allegations weighed in Ga. – NBC News
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In his closing arguments, Merchant says Willis has received $9,200 in personal financial benefit from her relationship with Wade, but the amount of money doesn’t matter as much as the fact that she did benefit financially.
“Is $50 enough? Is $100 enough? So I think it’s not necessarily the amount of the money. It’s the fact that she received it and it’s not insignificant,” Merchant said.
“When you’re a public official, and you’re required to keep track of gifts that you receive, then you need to keep track of it. But there’s no paper trail, there’s no deposit history, there’s no withdrawal history, there’s no receipts, none of that,” Merchant added.
As part of his closing arguments, John Merchant defended his wife Ashleigh, a lawyer for Trump co-defendant Michael Roman who led much of the witness questioning in this case.
“I will resist the temptation to defend my wife, who I believe to be an excellent lawyer,” John Merchant told the judge, adding, “but i will say this, judge: you don’t just evaluate the credibility of the witness list. You evaluate the credibility of the lawyers.”
Merchant said Adam Abbate, a lawyer for the state, “stood up here in open court … and called her a liar.”
“For the state to get up here and impugn her credibility” is inappropriate, Merchant added.
John Merchant invoked a quote from a Supreme Court decision on obscenity written by Justice Potter Stewart saying that when it comes to pornography, “I know it when I see it.” He said that the allegations of misconduct against Willis fit this threshold of appearance of impropriety.
John Merchant, the lawyer for Micheal Roman argued that Fani Willis had “a personal interest in the case.” When the judge pressed him on what that means, Merchant said, “There’s no definition of that under Georgia law” but that it could be financial or otherwise but that the most important consideration was “what this looks like to the public.”
Court appears to be back in session as the hearing over scheduling the classified documents trial continues.
A federal hearing underway in Florida could determine when Trump’s trial on his mishandling of classified documents could begin. Watch “Ana Cabrera Reports” for more on the scheduling hearing.
ATLANTA — Closing arguments are set to take place Friday afternoon over whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should be disqualified from the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants.
The stakes are high — if Willis is removed because of the misconduct allegations, her entire office would be disqualified, as well, and a new prosecutor would have to take over the sprawling case alleging that Trump and his allies conspired to illegally overturn the election results in the state.
One of Trump’s co-defendants, former Trump White House and campaign staffer Michael Roman, filed a motion seeking Willis’ disqualification and the dismissal of the criminal case. Roman, and later Trump, accused her of having an “improper” personal relationship with Nathan Wade, the lawyer she’d appointed as a special prosecutor in the case.
Roman alleged that Willis skirted the rules to appoint Wade and that she benefited financially from his appointment, which has earned his office over $600,000 to date.
Read the full story here.
Cannon’s decision will be critical in shaping the timeline for Trump’s court proceedings this year as he also faces trials in three other cases: the hush money charges in New York and separate election interference charges in Washington, D.C., and Fulton County, Georgia.
The New York trial will start late next month, with jury selection scheduled to begin March 25, and is estimated to last about six weeks. The Washington trial, which was originally set for March 4, was indefinitely postponed as the Supreme Court weighs Trump’s claims of presidential immunity. A trial in the Georgia case has not been scheduled, and it’s up in the air whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis will be able to prosecute the case following misconduct claims against her. On Friday afternoon, a Fulton County judge is hearing closing arguments on the motion to disqualify Willis.
Former President Donald Trump‘s lawyers and special counsel Jack Smith’s team are at odds over how much about their personal politics potential jurors have to disclose on a questionnaire for the classified documents case.
The two sides’ joint proposed jury questionnaire agreed on most questions but noted their disagreements on some — including those about political affiliations.
The defense proposed questions about whether potential jurors were registered to vote and registered with a political party and whether they voted in the 2020 election. The special counsel’s team objected to the questions in the filing Wednesday.
The special counsel proposed asking potential jurors whether they believe the 2020 presidential election was stolen. Trump’s team objected to the question.
Trump’s team is pushing to add a question about whether potential jurors view politicians in a negative light. The questionnaire also asks about views about federal prosecutors, law enforcement, criminal defense attorneys and judges.
Read the full story here.
If a Georgia judge signs off on a bid to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from her racketeering case against former President Donald Trump and numerous co-defendants, it could delay any trial until well after the 2024 election — and possibly scuttle the charges altogether, legal experts told NBC News.
For a new prosecutor to take over the sprawling 15-defendant case would be a “massive undertaking,” said Amy Lee Copeland, a defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor in Georgia, adding that the theoretical new prosecutor could decide to amend the charges or even “decide not to pursue it.”
Read the full story here.
John Merchant, Roman’s defense attorney, is starting his closing arguments, focusing on what he alleges is a conflict of interest on Willis’ part.
Closing arguments have begun in the Fulton County, Georgia, hearing on misconduct allegations against District Attorney Fani Willis.
Cannon raised the question of whether or not a delay in the trial start would be in violation of the DOJ’s “60-day rule” that prevents it from engaging in actions that could influence an election.
The government argued that it was “in full compliance with the justice manual” and that the rule did not apply to cases that have already been brought.
A lawyer for Trump argued that the key question for trial scheduling was now whether a fall trial would be “complete election interference.”
Court has adjourned for one hour for lunch.
The defense argued that a trial starting this year would be “unfair to Trump as a nominee for president” due to his campaign schedule. They also cited the trial in New York over alleged hush money payments as a reason for delay, saying that Trump planned to be there nearly every day (criminal defendants are normally required to attend all trial dates).
Trump’s attorneys are asking for the trial to be delayed until after an evidentiary hearing in August.
An evidentiary hearing is when the court hears what evidence prosecutors have on a specific topic and determines what evidence will be allowed to be presented at trial.
It’s unclear so far what evidence Trump’s team was asking to be reviewed at the hearing Friday, but in a court filing Thursday they indicated they wanted numerous evidentiary hearings on their motions to suppress information from the FBI’s search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, and to compel the government to turn over any evidence related to their claims of selective and vindictive prosecution, and on prosecutorial misconduct. They also asked for another on their claim that Trump’s actions were protected under the Presidential Records Act.
Trump’s attorneys told the judge they thought the hearing would take more than a day. Smith’s team told the judge it doesn’t think an evidentiary hearing is necessary.
In response to the prosecution’s proposed start date of July 8, defense attorneys argued that holding the trial before the election is “unfair” and that the July date is “an impossibility for the defendant” due to the New York criminal case beginning March 25. They proposed evidentiary hearings beginning in August.
Attorneys for special counsel Jack Smith and Trump proposed new trial dates Thursday for the former president’s criminal trial on charges that he mishandled classified documents and national security secrets.
Federal prosecutors proposed a July 8 start date, while attorneys for Trump suggested he stand trial on Aug. 12. Trump’s proposed date was a surprise because he and his attorneys have maintained that the trial should be held after the presidential election in November.
Cannon had asked both sides to propose a schedule ahead of a hearing on the issue in Fort Pierce, Florida, on Friday. The case was initially scheduled to go to trial in May, but it’s been expected that the original start date would be pushed back because of a number of outstanding legal issues that have yet to be decided by the court.
Read the full story here.
Trump has arrived at the courthouse in Fort Pierce, Florida.
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said that all of former President Donald Trump‘s legal cases should be “dealt with” before the presidential election.
“I think all of the cases should be dealt with before November,” Haley said yesterday in an interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press“ moderator Kristen Welker in Falls Church, Virginia, where voters will cast their primary ballots Tuesday.
“We need to know what’s going to happen before it, before the presidency happens, because after that, should he become president, I don’t think any of it’s going to get heard,” she continued.
Haley spoke a day after the Supreme Court agreed to decide whether Trump could claim presidential immunity in response to criminal charges. It could take months for the high court to reach a decision, pushing back the potential timeline for his election interference trial.
“I just think a president has to live according to the laws, too. You don’t get complete immunity,” she said, addressing the Supreme Court’s decision to take the case. She added that presidents should not get “free rein to do whatever they want to do.”
Read the full story here.
The federal judge overseeing the classified documents case against Trump will hold a key hearing in Florida today as she considers pushing back the trial date of May 20.
The hearing is set to begin in Fort Pierce at 10 a.m. ET and should last most of the day. The judge, Aileen Cannon, has left several issues about how to proceed with the documents case unresolved. Trump is expected to attend the hearing.
In filings last night that had been requested by Cannon, special counsel Jack Smith’s office suggested pushing the trial back to July 8, while Trump’s lawyers proposed an Aug. 12 start date. Trump’s attorneys also made clear that they believe the trial should be pushed back until after November’s election.
“As the leading candidate in the 2024 election, President Trump strongly asserts that a fair trial cannot be conducted this year in a manner consistent with the Constitution, which affords President Trump a Sixth Amendment right to be present and to participate in these proceedings” and “a First Amendment right that he shares with the American people to engage in campaign speech,” they wrote.
Both sides also submitted a lengthy joint proposal for a questionnaire for potential jurors, but there were some areas among the 99 questions where they did not agree, including how long the trial will take. Smith’s office estimated four to six weeks, while Trump’s team put it at eight to 10 weeks. Smith’s team also wants to ask potential jurors if they believe the 2020 election was stolen; Trump’s side wants to know whether they voted that year.
Read the full story here.
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