Hearings on Trump’s criminal cases in New York and Georgia

Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade is questioned by attorney Ashleigh Merchant during a hearing on the Georgia election interference case on Thursday in Atlanta.

Defense attorneys in the racketeering case are barreling down this evidentiary hearing in Georgia, as they try to prove to Judge Scott McAfee that lead prosecutor Nathan Wade and District Attorney Fani Willis should be removed from the Trump case.

The questions from the defense lawyers are attempting to build on two fronts:

If the evidence exists, both could be problematic for Willis and Wade. An affidavit is a sworn statement filed in court — with potentially severe consequences if a lie is told, especially if the misrepresentation is told by attorneys, who have special ethical standards they must meet to be able to practice law.

This potentially puts them at risk on so many fronts — because an affidavit is sworn, because they have law licenses, and because the future of the racketeering case potentially hangs on their ability to continue to work as prosecutors on it.

New York state Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan elaborated on his decision to deny Donald Trump’s pretrial motion to dismiss the Manhattan District Attorney’s hush money case — first announced at the Thursday hearing — in a lengthy order dense with legal citations and little color — a stark contrast to state civil Judge Arthur Engoron’s style of railing against Trump in colorful language throughout his civil fraud trial. 

In addition to denying the motion to dismiss, Merchan also denied Trump’s request to hold a hearing to investigate the former president’s claims that he’s being selectively prosecuted by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and about media leaks during the grand jury proceedings ahead of the 34-count indictment.

Merchan also said he’ll accept the prosecutors’ assertions that the leaks didn’t come from their office because others like grand jury witnesses and others are not bound by grand jury secrecy and could’ve informed reporters.  

The judge knocked Trump’s claims that the Manhattan district attorney targeted him but ignored Hillary Clinton’s allegedly improper recording of campaign expenses as legal payments to hire a research firm to the prepare the “Steele Dossier.”

Merchan also declined to winnow down the charges against Trump to reflect only one count for each of the 11 Michael Cohen reimbursement invoices. 

Prosecutor Nathan Wade testified that he has no records to corroborate his claim that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis reimbursed him in cash for travel costs stemming from a trip the two took together in 2023.

“I’m sure you probably have the deposit slips, where you took the cash and deposited the cash into your account, don’t you?” defense attorney Craig Gillen asked Wade at one point during the prosecutor’s testimony.

“I did not deposit the cash in my account,” Wade replied.

Gillen grilled Wade on what he would do with the cash reimbursements — in at least one case, thousands of dollars — as he tried to undercut Wade’s defense to allegations that his relationship with Willis amounts to a conflict of interest because she benefited financially. Wade has repeatedly indicated she didn’t benefit, because they split expenses.

“You don’t have a single solitary deposit slip to corroborate or support any of your allegations that you were paid by Ms. Willis in cash?” Gillen shot back, raising his voice slightly. 

“No sir,” Wade said, to which Gillen replied: “Not a single solitary one?”

“Not a one,” Wade responded.

Earlier Thursday, Wade testified that a trip he and Willis took together to Belize was a birthday present for him, and that while he paid for parts of the trip with his credit card, Willis paid him back for everything.

Remember: The judge is considering whether Willis should be disqualified from the election subversion case against Donald Trump and others in Georgia due to the relationship with Wade.

Defendant David Shafer attends a hearing in the case of the State of Georgia v. Donald John Trump at the Fulton County Courthouse on February 15, in Atlanta, Georgia.

It is a unique scene in Judge Scott McAfee’s courtroom as Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor who is spearheading the sprawling racketeering charges against former President Donald Trump and his allies in the 2020 election case, is forced to testify about when his relationship with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis started and share details of how their vacations were paid for.

Three of Trump’s 14 remaining co-defendants are present in court, enthusiastically taking in Wade’s testimony, smiling at times. David Shafer, the former chair of Georgia’s Republican Party who played a key role in organizing the Peach State’s fake electors, is seated in the front of the defendants’ chair surrounded by defense lawyers.

Co-defendants Harrison Floyd, the leader of Black Voices for Trump in 2020, and Trevian Kutti, a publicist who is accused of trying to influence Fulton County election workers, are sitting within the packed courtroom gallery alongside members of the press and public. Shafer, Floyd, and Kutti have all plead not guilty to the charges they face, including felony racketeering.

Craig Gillen questions Nathan Wade, not pictured, during a hearing at Fulton County courthouse in Atlanta on Thursday.

A defense attorney pushed the lead prosecutor on the Georgia case against Donald Trump and allies, Nathan Wade, on answers he gave in divorce records in 2023, when he said he had not had sexual relations with a person outside the marriage, despite his relationship with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

Craig Gillen, an attorney for Trump’s co-defendant David Shafer, pressed Wade on this subject in an attempt to undermine Wade’s veracity. Gillen asked Wade whether he had engaged in a sexual relationship with Willis prior to his claim in divorce records.

“I’m saying, during the course of my marriage, I did not have a sexual relationship with anyone,” Wade said, drawing a distinction between when he felt the marriage ended and it its legal conclusion, as the divorce has not been finalized.

Gillen pushed back, noting that the statement in the divorce filing was over relationships “from the date of marriage to the present.”

“Your answer to this interrogatory is false, is it not?” Gillen said, to which Wade continued to say his answer was correct.

Wade previously testified his personal relationship with Willis began in early 2022, and acknowledged on the stand Thursday that they had sexual relations.

Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade looks on during a hearing in the case of the State of Georgia v. Donald John Trump at the Fulton County Courthouse on February 15 in Atlanta, Georgia. 

Donald Trump may be winning politically on Thursday by shifting attention to the personal lives of prosecutors pursuing the criminal case against him in Georgia.

But his lawyers have also looked for opportunities like these in the criminal cases he faces to plant the seeds for a legal win later on by damaging prosecutors’ credibility enough to help him before a jury.

Trump has repeatedly tried to claim publicly, including in remarks outside of a Manhattan courtroom Thursday, that he is the victim of a Biden administration conspiracy. Defense teams sometimes aim for these types of smears of prosecutors to help them by seeping into the public consciousness. When it comes time to pick jurors, distrust in the justice system or prosecutors could help Trump if even one selected juror wants to acquit because of feelings the case wasn’t fair.

It’s called jury nullification — and it’s a flaw in the justice system courts strenuously try to avoid in the courtroom. However, a nullified jury — unwilling to vote based on the facts of the case before them — can pop up sometimes, especially in high-profile or controversial cases.

It still remains to be seen, however, if the most immediate fallout of the Fani Willis and Nathan Wade situation is the top prosecutors’ removal from the Trump case, which could potentially derail a trial indefinitely.

Former President Donald Trump speaks with his lawyer during a court hearing Manhattan Criminal Court in New York on Thursday.

Before entering the courtroom in New York on Thursday morning, Trump claimed the hush money case against him is “election interference.” He also argued that it is interfering with his ability to campaign in South Carolina ahead of the February 24 Republican presidential primary there.

“How can you run for election and be sitting in a courthouse in Manhattan all day long? I’m supposed to be in South Carolina right now, where other people are, and where, again — this is where I should be. I shouldn’t be in a courthouse,” Trump said. 

Trump was even more explicit in comments after leaving the courtroom later in the morning, saying, “So instead of being in South Carolina and other states, campaigning, I’m stuck here.”

Facts First: Trump wasn’t “stuck” in the courthouse in New York on Thursday. In fact, he was not required to attend any part of the hearing, since Judge Juan Merchan had waived his pretrial appearances.

Rather, Trump voluntarily chose to appear at the hearing after considering instead attending a hearing related to charges he faces in Georgia.

And he had not been scheduled to be in South Carolina on Thursday even before he made the decision to attend the New York hearing. His next scheduled campaign appearance in the state is next week. His next rally after the Thursday hearing is a Saturday event in Michigan.

Trump is not planning to fly to South Carolina after the New York hearing. He is planning to fly back to Florida, where he lives.

Defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant speaks during the hearing at the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta on Thursday.

The lead prosecutor in the Fulton County election case is facing an exhaustive series of questions by a defense attorney who is trying to provide the court with an understanding of his financial ties with District Attorney Fani Willis.

Defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant has been questioning lead prosecutor Nathan Wade for over an hour, with a good portion of it delving deep into how he shared travel expenses with Willis during trips the two took together in recent years to domestic and exotic destinations.

Though Merchant’s questions and Wade’s answers may be difficult for some court watchers to follow, they may eventually play a key role in the Judge Scott McAfee’s decision to disqualify Willis from the case for her potential improper relationship with Wade as the judge is searching for evidence to bolster claims that Willis financially benefited from the relationship.

The timing of when the two began a romantic relationship has also become a point of contention, with Wade continuing to maintain the relationship began in early 2022, after he was selected by Willis to lead the investigation into Trump and his allies.

A former employee of the district attorney’s office, and friend of Willis, Robin Bryant Yeartie testified Thursday that the two began a romantic relationship in late 2019, contradicting Wade’s claims.

Yearti testified that she saw them “hugging, kissing” and displaying affection prior to when Wade started on the case. 

Fulton County Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade speaks during a hearing in the case of State of Georgia v. Donald John Trump at the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta, Georgia, on February 15.

The lead prosecutor in the Georgia election subversion case testified Thursday that District Attorney Fani Willis paid him back in cash for vacations the two took together because of safety concerns.

Defense attorneys for Donald Trump and other co-defendants argue their relationship amounts to a conflict of interest because the prosecutor appointed to lead the case, Nathan Wade, paid for gifts and vacations for Willis during their romantic relationship, in part with money he was paid for his work on the criminal case.

“Traveling with her is a task,” Wade said during a hearing Thursday over whether Willis should be disqualified from the case. “For safety reasons, she would limit her transactions.”

Wade didn’t elaborate on why Willis using a credit card could compromise her safety. Wade testified that during trips, Willis paid cash for excursions on at least one vacation and paid back Wade for plane flights and other travel.

“She paid for the excursions so the expenses sort of balanced out,” Wade said.

Wade also said that a trip to Belize with Willis was a birthday present for him, and that while he paid for parts of the trip with his credit card, Willis paid him back for everything.

Explaining why there were no receipts for Willis’s reimbursements and other payments, Wade said he wasn’t keeping a ledger of what he paid for versus what Willis paid for.

The court has recessed for lunch and will return in 45 minutes.

President Joe Biden’s campaign advisers have long been sensitive to media coverage of Donald Trump and the reality that, as the former president’s multiple legal proceedings unfold, there will continue to be a bright spotlight on Trump — for better or for worse.

Senior campaign advisers say they believe it will be important to offer counter-programming focused on Biden during the Trump trials in order to ensure the campaign’s message, and candidate, can consistently break through.

That includes aggressively pushing surrogates, including senior Democratic elected officials, to travel and sell the president’s message and candidacy, as well as trying to maximize coverage of Biden whenever he is on the road. 

Still, one Biden campaign adviser said they would reject any suggestion that coverage of the Trump trial in Georgia, in particular, was a net-positive for the former president. Footage of Trump putting up a fight in that context might appeal to his existing base, the adviser said, but may do little to sway voters who are already troubled by Trump’s legal issues and conduct.

Biden has nothing on his public schedule — official or political — on Thursday as of right now. And the campaign has shown no signs of shifting from its strategy of having Biden not comment on the legal proceedings as they play out.

Nikki Haley speaks at a campaign event at Summerville Country Club on February 13 in Summerville, South Carolina. 

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is reiterating her case that former President Donald Trump’s legal drama will hurt the GOP at the ballot box, pointing to Trump’s busy court schedule today and in the coming weeks.

Haley’s campaign has not commented on how the March 25 criminal trial start date for Trump impacts the way it is thinking about her campaign. The former South Carolina governor has vowed to stay in the race through the South Carolina primary on February 24 and a series of Super Tuesday contests on March 5.

Earlier this week, Haley said she will uphold her commitment to back the GOP presidential nominee, but also claimed without evidence that the American people would not back a convicted criminal.

Haley is in Dallas today for a rally and a fundraiser.

Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade testifies during a hearing on the Georgia election interference case on Thursday in Atlanta.

Nathan Wade, the top prosecutor selected by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on the Georgia election subversion case, stuck to his earlier claim that his romantic relationship with Willis began in early 2022 and that they split travel expenses.

When pressed on whether he paid for Willis’ travel when they vacationed together, Wade claimed Willis reimbursed him for a flight in cash. Credit card statements submitted in Wade’s divorce proceedings show he paid for two flights for them in recent years, to San Francisco and Miami.

Wade said he did not have receipts for all of the times Willis reimbursed him for trips.

Earlier testimony undercuts Wade’s claim: Robin Bryant Yeartie, a previous witness during Thursday’s hearing on whether to disqualify Willis from the election racketeering case, testified that Willis and Wade began their relationship in late 2019 — before he was selected by Willis to lead the investigation.

Wade was appointed to the case against Donald Trump and his allies in late 2021.

Wade also testified that his previous marriage was broken since 2015, long before his relationship with Willis began.

“My marriage was irretrievably broken” in 2015, Wade said, adding that, “I was free to have a relationship.”

Former President Donald Trump lamented again the New York criminal trial, calling it “election interference by (President Joe) Biden, because it’s the only way he can think to get elected because he’s accomplished nothing.”

The former president said he’s “honored” to “sit here day after day after day” on something the “greatest legal scholars say — it’s not even a crime.”

Asked how he would plan to campaign while in court, he shouted back, “I’ll do it in the evening.”

He earlier told reporters “I’ll be here during the day, and I’ll be campaigning during the night,” taking a dig at the current president, saying “Biden should be doing the same thing but he’ll be sleeping.” He accused the White House, the New York attorney general, the Department of Justice and the Manhattan district attorney of being coordinated against him.

The former president also addressed recent comments on NATO at the courthouse hallway camera.

“NATO countries have to pay up. They have to pay their bills,” Trump said. “They are not paying up, they are not paying what they should, and they laugh at the stupidity of the United States of America where we have a guy that gives 60 billion dollars every time somebody comes and asks for it.”

Some context: Eighteen of NATO’s 31 members are expected to spend at least 2% of their GDP on defense this year, the treaty organization’s leader said Wednesday. That’s the threshold pledged by member countries a decade ago, which serves as a “guideline,” not a debt or legal obligation.

New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks after former President Donald Trump appeared at Manhattan Criminal Courthouse, after his indictment by a Manhattan grand jury following a probe into hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, in New York City in April 2023.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said he is “pleased” the court denied Donald Trump’s motion to dismiss charges in the hush money criminal case. 

“We are pleased that the Court denied the defense’s motion to dismiss. We look forward to presenting our case in court on March 25, 2024,” Bragg said.

Former US President Donald Trump speaks to the press at Manhattan Criminal Court after a hearing in his case of paying hush money to cover up extramarital affairs in New York City on February 15, 2024. 

The pre-trial hearing in Donald Trump’s New York criminal trial ended with a discussion of logistics for the trial – and one last objection from Trump’s lawyer about starting the trial next month.

“We strenuously object to what is happening in this courtroom,” attorney Todd Blanche said after the lawyers had finished dealing with all of the motions before Judge Juan Merchan ahead of the trial.

But Merchan had already rejected Blanche’s attempts to push back the March 25 date for the start of the trial, and he wasn’t interested in continuing the conversation.

“What’s your legal argument?” Merchan asked.

“That is my legal argument,” Blanche responded.

“That’s not a legal argument,” Merchan said, telling the lawyers he’d see everyone March 25 and adjourning the hearing.

As Trump walked out, someone in the back of the courtroom started clapping. They were quickly yelled at by court officers who said: “Quiet in the courtroom.”

The hearing in the hush money case against former President Donald Trump has ended. The hearing lasted under two hours.

Trump lawyer Todd Blanche ended by saying, “We strenuously object to what is happening in this courtroom.”

Nathan Wade testifies at Fulton County courthouse in Atlanta on Thursday.

The top prosecutor selected by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to lead the Georgia election subversion case has begun testifying in the hearing to disqualify Willis.

Defense attorneys seeking to disqualify Willis are trying to establish that she hired Nathan Wade when they were in a romantic relationship and that she then financially benefitted from the relationship through gifts and vacations – paid for, in part, with taxpayer money Wade earned on the case. 

Wade has acknowledged in court filings that he had a personal relationship with Willis, but both he and Willis have denied any wrongdoing. And the district attorney has argued their relationship should not disqualify her office from the case against Donald Trump and his allies. 

Judge Scott McAfee cleared the way for Wade to testify, denying the state’s request to quash a subpoena for his testimony. The judge said he would allow the defense attorneys to question Wade after another witness undercut Willis and Wade’s timeline of when their romantic relationship began.

The logistics of Donald Trump’s first official criminal trial are coming into focus as attorneys continue to hammer out scheduling in court.

There will be 18 jurors — a panel of 12 with six alternates — seated in the jury box, Judge Juan Merchan confirmed in court.

Court will not be in session on Wednesdays, and there will not be court on April 29. Court will go from 9:30 a.m. ET until at least 4:30 p.m. ET, if not later, Merchan said.

Merchan also said he would try to work with attorneys on scheduling around the Jewish holidays in April, but he said they would not take an entire week off from the trial.

Robin Bryant Yeartie appears in a video conference call shown in Fulton County courthouse on Thursday in Atlanta.

A witness in the hearing over whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should be disqualified from the 2020 election subversion case said Thursday that the romantic relationship between Willis and her top attorney began in late 2019, undercutting Willis’ claims in court filings about when it began.

“She told me they met at a conference,” in October of 2019, Willis’ longtime friend and former employee Robin Bryant Yeartie testified Thursday.

Yeartie told defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant that Willis and Nathan Wade began a romantic relationship shortly after the conference in 2019, and that the relationship continued into 2022.

Why it matters: Wade said in an affidavit filed in court by the district attorney’s office that he and Willis “developed a personal relationship in addition to our professional association and friendship” in 2022 — after Willis hired Wade as special prosecutor in late 2021. 

More on the witness: Yeartie took the stand after Judge Scott McAfee denied a motion to quash a subpoena for her.

Durante Partridge, an attorney for Yeartie, had tried to push back against the need for his client to testify at the hearing, saying she didn’t have any information to provide about Willis’ personal relationship with another prosecutor – the controversy at the heart of Thursday’s hearing.

Defense attorneys in the case previously claimed Yeartie could provide information about Willis and Wade staying together at a residence tied to Yeartie. Partridge said she did not have information about.

Former President Donald Trump appears during a court hearing at Manhattan criminal court on Thursday in New York.

Donald Trump could potentially claim enough delegates to become the presumptive Republican nominee before the March 25 start date for the former president’s first criminal trial in New York.

A look at the numbers: A candidate needs 1,215 delegates to win the GOP nomination. The soonest Trump could surpass the delegate threshold is March 12, at which point 1,366 delegates will have been awarded. Another 350 delegates are at stake on March 19 with nominating contests in Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Kansas and Ohio. 

CNN currently estimates Trump has won 63 delegates while former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley – his last remaining primary rival – has won 17 delegates.

While Trump may effectively bring an end to the GOP nominating fight before his first criminal case begins, the proceedings could disrupt the former president’s pivot to a general election matchup with President Joe Biden – dividing his attention between his legal battles and his presidential campaign.

Manhattan district attorney prosecutors said they do not want to ask jurors specifically about their political affiliations or about their political donations that would get at the question indirectly.

“This case is not supposed to be about politics,” Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Josh Steinglass said. 

Defense attorney Todd Blanche disagreed, saying it can’t be ignored.

“We are not interested in whether someone likes or dislikes President Trump,” Steinglass pushed back. 

The prosecutors care only that the jurors can be fair and impartial regardless of politics, Steinglass reiterated. 

Judge Juan Merchan agreed, adding, “It would be inappropriate to simply ask or want to know if somebody dislikes your client. The issue is whether people can be fair and impartial.”

Terrence Bradley on Thursday at the Fulton County courthouse in Atlanta.

The first witness to take the stand was the man whom defendants in the 2020 election racketeering case believed could stand up their allegations of impropriety between Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her top attorney Nathan Wade. But he didn’t do that — not even close.

That’s because the legal ethics that bind attorneys prevented the witness, Terrence Bradley, from divulging what he knew of Wade and Willis’ relationship.

Bradley was Wade’s law partner, and also served as his divorce attorney years ago. Wade and his wife separated then filed for divorce in 2021, according to court records. Bradley represented Nathan Wade in the divorce until 2022, according to the record.

Because of that setup, where he was the attorney and Wade was the client, Bradley can’t share information he would have known from Wade’s divorce proceeding without Wade’s permission.

Thus, he told the judge on Thursday he didn’t have “independent knowledge” of the Wade-Willis relationship that he could testify to as a witness.

Defendants in the Trump case are trying to unearth evidence in court on Thursday that would show Willis and Wade had a romantic relationship, that Willis benefited from financially, before Willis hired Wade in late 2021 to work on the Trump case.

A key witness in the case to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from the 2020 election subversion case is arguing that he can’t testify about the origins of her personal relationship with her lead prosecutor.

Shortly after taking the stand, the witness, Terrence Bradley, was asked by defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant about when lead prosecutor Nathan Wade began a relationship with Willis. Bradley previously served as Wade’s divorce attorney.

Bradley objected to the question. He cited attorney-client privilege and said he does not have “independent knowledge” of the relationship that he can testify to.

He says he has consulted with the bar, which governs how attorneys can conduct themselves.

The judge has called that into question: Judge Scott McAfee suggested during Thursday’s hearing that Bradley may be taking attorney-client privilege too far.

Judge Juan Merchan is going over potential questions to jurors in jury selection, including their views about the 2020 election and whether they belong to fringe groups. 

Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Josh Steinglass suggested they model some jury questions about news consumption and political affiliations on Judge Lewis Kaplan’s method used in the E. Jean Carroll trial.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche strongly pushed back against that idea.

Blanche objected to questions about whether prospective jurors are members of extremist groups like QAnon, Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office responded that they’d be happy to add any other left extremist groups Trump’s team wants to list – Antifa was already on the list.

Blanche also objected to a question about whether prospective jurors believed the 2020 election was stolen, arguing that a question about the election had no relevance to the New York criminal fraud case.

The jury pool is tainted by the media saturation in this city because of coverage of the recent civil fraud trial and the Carroll trial, Blanche argued, which he says contained salacious allegations against Trump.

The lawyers also debated what media outlets should be included on a question about media consumption.

Blanche also said they want to specifically ask jurors whether they have listened to any podcasts or read any books by Michael Cohen or Mark Pomerantz because they specifically discuss facts of this case. Based on a request from Steinglass, Merchan will also ask the jury pool if they’ve read any books authored by Trump.

Merchan did not rule on the questions that would be included during Thursday’s hearing

As Todd Blanche delivers extended protests during Thursday’s hearing on Donald Trump’s upcoming criminal trial in New York, it’s clear he’s partially putting on a show for an “audience of one” – his client sitting several feet to the right of him.

Blanche argued that the trial date was “unconstitutional,” raising concerns about both the three additional criminal trials Trump has as well as the 2024 presidential election.

Trump, sitting alongside Blanche at the defense table, looked on at his lawyer as he argued with the judge.

Judge Juan Merchan dismissed Blanche’s objections, saying that Trump would not be on trial in two places at the same time.

Blanche then tried a new tactic, arguing there had been media saturation of Trump’s trials with the New York civil fraud trial and the E. Jean Carroll defamation case.

Merchan wasn’t having it.

Former President Donald Trump appears during a court hearing at Manhattan criminal court on Thursday in New York.

Defense attorneys for Donald Trump also brought up Michael Cohen’s testimony in a separate case, suggesting the Manhattan district attorney should be investigating him for perjury.

Cohen — Trump’s former lawyer and a key part of this hush money probe — testified as part of the separate civil fraud case brought by the New York attorney general. (A verdict on that case is expected Friday.)

Defense attorney Todd Blanche, citing Cohen’s testimony in the civil fraud case, said that Cohen committed perjury “across the street” two months ago.

During the civil fraud trial, Cohen went back on his claims that Trump told him directly to fraudulently inflate his property values, saying that Trump made clear what he wanted even if he hadn’t said it outright.

District Attorney’s office attorney Matthew Colangelo didn’t address the claim of an investigation but said the defense will have an opportunity to cross examine Cohen to address those issues which the prosecutor said is the most appropriate way to address that concern.

Former President Donald Trump speaks before entering the courtroom at Manhattan criminal court on Thursday in New York.

Heading into court in New York on Thursday, former President Donald Trump claimed President Joe Biden’s White House is running the hush-money case that was brought against him by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. 

“What it is, is election interference. It’s being run by Joe Biden’s White House. His top person was placed here in order to make sure everything goes right,” Trump said. He continued, “His top person, Colangelo, and some others have been placed into the DA’s office to make sure they do a good job of election interference.”  

Facts First: There is no basis for Trump’s claims. First, there is no evidence Biden’s White House has any role in running the district attorney’s case. Second, there is no evidence the White House or the Biden administration had anything to do with senior Justice Department official Matthew Colangelo’s decision to leave the department and join the Manhattan district attorney’s office in 2022 as senior counsel to Bragg. Colangelo and Bragg knew each other before Bragg was elected Manhattan district attorney.

Colangelo and Bragg previously worked at the same time in the office of New York’s state attorney general, where Colangelo investigated Trump’s charity and Trump’s financial practices and was involved in bringing various lawsuits against the Trump administration.

On a minor point, Colangelo was never Biden’s very top official at the Justice Department. Colangelo served as acting associate attorney general in the first months of the Biden administration in early 2021 and then as principal deputy associate attorney general. As acting associate attorney general, he was third in command of the department.

Justice Department prosecutors declined both in the middle and at the end of Trump’s term to pursue federal charges against Trump over the hush money case, CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig reported in a 2023 book. 

Honig reported that federal prosecutors in New York decided against pursuing charges in 2018 on account of longstanding Justice Department guidance that a sitting president can’t be indicted. Honig reported that in January 2021, just before Trump left office that month, federal prosecutors in New York held discussions about possibly reviving the case but again decided not to seek an indictment.

The Fulton County hearing got off to a chaotic start, with confusion over which witnesses would testify about the potential improper relationship between prosecutors that could imperil the case.

Currently on the stand is Terrence Bradley, a former law partner of Nathan Wade. The hearing is all about the personal relationship between Wade and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

Before Bradley was called, the defense attorneys tried to call one of Willis’ friends to the witness stand. The witness, Robin Bryant Yeartie, was subpoenaed but she didn’t show up to the courthouse.

Earlier, the defense attorneys wanted to begin by putting Wade on the stand, but those plans changed at the last minute.

Donald Trump awaits the start of a hearing in New York City Criminal Court, Thursday, February 15, 2024. 

Defense attorney Todd Blanche continued to argue the scheduling of the trial for March 25 is unconstitutional given his other pending cases, as well as the upcoming presidential election.

Blanche said the trial could take Donald Trump and his team into the third week of May.

“That puts us right up to the third week of May where he’s been in court four days a week not preparing for a very significant trial where his insight and strategy is extremely important to the defense,” Blanche said.

“President Trump says it all the time and the media makes fun of him but it’s ‘election interference’ to make President Trump sit here in this courtroom,” Blanche added.

Matthew Colangelo, a lawyer for the Manhattan district attorney, called out the tactics from Trump’s lawyers asking each court to delay proceedings because of the other cases in other jurisdictions.

Colangelo suggested there was a pattern of “using the pendency of each proceeding to evade accountability in all proceedings.”

Judge Juan Merchan dismissed protests from Donald Trump’s attorney at the judge’s ruling that the former president’s New York criminal trial will begin on March 25.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche said that beginning a trial would be a “great injustice,” arguing that Trump’s attorneys have been focused on Trump’s other potential trials and warning they could overlap.

Blanche complained that he had asked for a discussion on the trial date last fall because of the additional indictments. But Merchan shut down those complaints, saying there was no reason to discuss the trial date until the federal calendar had been clarified.

Merchan said he spoke to Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing Trump’s federal election subversion trial, earlier this month. That trial is now on hold over an appeal on Trump’s presidential immunity claims.

“It would have been an absolute waste of time” to come together in November, Merchan said, because no one knew when the other trials would occur. But now the federal trial is now not happening in March, he said.

Merchan cut off Blanche and told him a conference about scheduling wouldn’t have been fruitful.

“You don’t have a trial date in Georgia, you don’t have a trial date in Florida,” Merchan said.

Merchan also admonished Blanche to stop interrupting him.

Judge Scott McAfee.

As the evidentiary hearing got under way, an attorney for the Fulton County district attorney’s office told the judge that the entire motion over whether District Attorney Fani Willis should be disqualified ought to be dismissed.

Adam Abbate told the judge: “We’ve been able to determine that the claims the defendant has … are not only legally meritless” but are also “patiently false.” 

The judge, Scott McAfee, denied Abbate’s renewed effort to stop the hearing.

Abbate argued that the testimony of one of the key witnesses in the case, Terrence Bradley, would be blocked by attorney-client privilege. Bradley represented Nathan Wade in his divorce proceedings. In this hearing, McAfee will consider allegations that Willis and Wade, he top prosecutor, engaged in a romantic relationship.

“We’d ask to renew our motion to quash,” Abbate said. 

Ashleigh Merchant, the defense attorney who brought the claims against Wade and Willis, argued that the hearing should continue. “Let’s hear from some witnesses, judge,” Merchant said. “This is a very important issue and we need to have witnesses.” 

Attorney Todd Blanche arrives at Trump Tower on Thursday in New York.

Donald Trump’s attorneys expressed dismay over Judge Juan Merchan’s repeated denials of requests from the defense to discuss scheduling, adding starting the trial in New York on in March would be “a great injustice.”

Defense attorneys were given the opportunity to raise their objections for the record, following the judge’s ruling denying Trump’s motion to dismiss the case, which was brought against him related to a hush-money payment to adult-film star Stormy Daniels in 2016, and to commence with jury selection on March 25.

“We have been faced with extremely compressed and expedited schedules” in each trial Blanche continues.

They stressed Trump has a constitutional right to prepare for criminal trial.

A judge ruled former President and GOP front-runner Donald Trump will face his first criminal trial with jury selection on March 25 in New York.

This comes after Judge Juan Merchan denied Trump’s motion to dismiss the charges against him in the criminal hush money case Thursday.

The decision comes as other criminal charges against Trump in other states have yet to be scheduled, as they are going through with pre-trial motions and being challenged in court.

The trial will come in the middle of the ramp up to the general election. 

Trump was indicted by a grand jury last March on 34 counts of falsifying business records to commit or conceal another crime.

Prosecutors allege that the former president engaged in a cover up scheme to hide reimbursement payments made to his former attorney, Michael Cohen who had paid hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels to stop her from going public about a past affair with Trump before the 2016 presidential election.

Trump has denied the affair and has pleaded not guilty to the charges

In this October 2022 photo, Judge Juan Merchan poses for a portrait at his office in New York County Criminal Court.

A New York state judge rejected former President Donald Trump’s motion to throw out charges brought by the Manhattan district attorney in the criminal hush money probe in a court hearing that started moments ago.

Trump’s attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the indictment on a number of grounds, including alleging it was brought six years after the alleged cover up in an effort to interfere with the 2024 presidential election.

Judge Juan Merchan rejected the motion to dismiss the case in open court Thursday.

Former President Donald Trump gestures on the day of a court hearing on charges of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to a porn star before the 2016 election, at Manhattan criminal courthouse in New York on Thursday.

Former President Donald Trump criticized the criminal hush money case against him as he entered court ahead of a hearing.

“This is not a crime,” he said in the courthouse hallway Thursday. 

“This is just a way of hurting me in the election because I’m leading by a lot, leading by numbers that nobody’s ever seen before,” the GOP frontrunner added, despite polls showing a close potential race between him and President Joe Biden.

“We want delays, obviously I’m running for election,” he said, adding he’d rather spend his time campaigning than in courtrooms, previewing a bit of what will be argued in court.

Trump has entered the courtroom where a hearing will soon be underway in the New York hush money criminal case brought by the Manhattan district attorney. 

District Attorney Alvin Bragg entered earlier and is seated in the courtroom. 

Judge Scott McAfee at Fulton County courthouse in Atlanta on Thursday.

The evidentiary hearing on whether District Attorney Fani Willis should be disqualified from her election subversion case against former President Donald Trump and his allies is beginning in Fulton County.

Judge Scott McAfee will consider allegations that Willis and her top prosecutor, Nathan Wade, engaged in a romantic relationship and that Wade, using the money he earned from the case, paid for vacations with Willis.

Defendant Mike Roman’s attorney, Ashleigh Merchant, originally brought the allegations against Willis and Wade and is expected to lead the case against the district attorney on Thursday and Friday.

Merchant told CNN she intends to call Wade to the stand first. Others could be called to discuss what they know about the relationship, which Wade and Willis have admitted existed but have denied any financial benefit to Willis.

District Attorney Anna Cross is expected to helm the case pushing back against Merchant’s claims.

Two cases that could defy Donald Trump’s capacity to thwart prosecutions and even to overturn eventual convictions against him if he returns to the White House reach critical tests on Thursday with major implications for the 2024 election.

Most of Trump’s legal filings in various cases have one thing in common: an attempt to prevent them from moving to trial and to delay accountability — at least until the next election.

The high-stakes hearings nearly 900 miles apart speak to the extraordinary entanglement of the 2024 election and Trump’s legal quagmire that now spans multiple presidential elections.

The legal and political collision that seems to become more intense with every passing week makes it all but certain the current election will sow divisive, long-term aftereffects however Trump’s legal perils end that will deepen the country’s political estrangement and further damage trust in electoral and judicial institutions.

Read Collinson’s full analysis of two high-stakes Trump hearings that are taking place nearly 900 miles apart.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis speaks during a news conference at the Fulton County Government building on August 14, 2023 in Atlanta. 

A hearing that could derail the election subversion case against Donald Trump and others in Georgia is set for Thursday and Friday as a judge considers whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should be disqualified.

Here’s what to watch for today:

The allegations against Wade and Willis: The alleged affair was first raised by Trump’s co-defendant, former 2020 campaign official Mike Roman, last month in a court filing accusing Willis of financially benefiting from selecting Wade when he took her on lavish vacations, paid partly with what he billed her office for work on the case. Willis appointed Wade special prosecutor to assist in the investigation in 2021.

A “star” witness and nearly a dozen subpoenas: Roman’s attorney, Ashleigh Merchant has subpoenaed nearly a dozen others to testify during Thursday’s hearing, including DA employees and Willis herself. Judge Scott McAfee said that he will allow Merchant – who represents Roman – to question her “star” witness and Wade’s former law partner, Terrence Bradley, on Thursday.

What if Willis is disqualified? If McAfee decides to grant the co-defendants’ motions and remove Willis from prosecuting the sprawling RICO case, under Georgia law the case would automatically be re-assigned to the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, a bipartisan collaboration of six district attorneys and three solicitors general from across the state. The council’s executive director would be responsible for either appointing a new district attorney from a separate county to oversee the case or a private lawyer, attorney general, or one of the members of the council.

Read more about what to look out for ahead of the Fulton County DA misconduct hearing.

Judge Juan Merchan re-reads counts in the charge as requested by a note from the jury during deliberations in the Trump Organization's criminal tax trial in Manhattan Criminal Court, New York City, in December 2022.

New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan and Donald Trump are no strangers.

Merchan previously sentenced Trump’s close confidant Allen Weisselberg to prison, presided over the Trump Organization tax fraud trial, and oversaw former adviser Steve Bannon’s criminal fraud case.

Trump has derided Merchan as a “Trump-hating judge” and has taken aim at his family, including the judge’s daughter, whose political consulting firm did work for the Joe Biden campaign and now-Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign.

Merchan rejected a Trump attempt to remove him from the trial over $35 worth of political donations to Biden in 2020.

In the courthouse, Merchan is well-regarded, attorneys who have appeared before him told CNN, and he’s known to maintain control of his courtroom even when his cases draw considerable attention.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis speaks during a news conference at the Fulton County Government building on August 14, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia.

There are over a dozen people who could testify in the hearing that’s expected to last two days in Atlanta.

Fani Willis and Nathan Wade are the headliners, but the attorney for the defendant seeking to remove the district attorney calls lawyer Terrence Bradley her “star witness.”

Here’s the list:

Judge Scott McAfee listens to prosecutor Will Wooten during a hearing in the case of the State of Georgia v. Donald John Trump on February 13, 2024 at the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta, Georgia.

In Fulton County, all eyes are on Judge Scott McAfee, the state judge who’s celebrating his one-year anniversary on the bench this month.

McAfee, faced with a racketeering case that involves the former president and originally 18 other defendants, has moved relatively quickly and has stepped in to move hearings along when warranted — something he said he would do on Thursday if necessary.

McAfee has been clear that the hearing will be limited in scope, noting that not all of the issues raised by defense attorneys over Wade and Willis are relevant.

McAfee was clear that Thursday’s hearing would be limited in scope, noting that not all of the issues raised by defense attorneys over Wade and Willis are relevant.

McAfee’s standard, he said Monday, is more than just the fact that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and prosecutor Nathan Wade had a relationship.

All of McAfee’s hearings are live on camera, but he has not shown a desire to be part of the story or spar with lawyers or defendants.

Former President Donald Trump arrives for his arraignment at Manhattan Criminal Court on April 4, 2023 in New York City. 

Donald Trump was charged in March 2023 by the Manhattan district attorney with falsifying business records to commit or conceal another crime.

Prosecutors allege that the former president engaged in a cover-up scheme to hide reimbursement payments made to his former attorney, Michael Cohen, who had paid hush money to adult-film star Stormy Daniels to stop her from going public about a past affair with Trump before the 2016 presidential election.

Trump pleaded not guilty to the 34 charges and denied the affair.

Last year, Trump filed a motion to dismiss the indictment on a number of grounds, including alleging it was brought six years after the alleged cover-up in an effort to interfere with the 2024 presidential election.

Read more about the key evidence and charges in the hush money case.

Former President Donald Trump arrives at Manhattan criminal court on Thursday.

Former President Donald Trump’s motorcade has arrived at the Manhattan criminal court where he is expected to attend a hearing in the New York hush money criminal case.

The off-camera hearing is expected to start at 9:30 a.m. ET.

Meanwhile, there is a dueling hearing in his Georgia election subversion case beginning at the same time.

A date for Donald Trump’s first criminal trial could be set Thursday at a pre-trial hearing in the former president’s New York criminal hush money case.

Trump is expected to attend the hearing in downtown Manhattan, where New York state Judge Juan Merchan will hear several motions and could rule on whether the trial will begin on March 25, as originally scheduled, on charges that Trump falsified business records with the intent to conceal illegal conduct connected to his 2016 presidential campaign.

If the judge keeps the date of the trial, it would begin to solidify the former president’s legal calendar that is filling up at the same time that his 2024 campaign is closing in on the Republican nomination for president.

Here’s what to know about the case:

Trump is seeking to dismiss the case or various charges: Trump’s team has made a long-shot motion to dismiss the entire case, claiming Bragg is resurrecting a “zombie” case six years too late to interfere with Trump’s 2024 presidential bid.

How we got here: The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office officially launched its investigation into the alleged hush-money schemes under the previous district attorney, Cy Vance, in August 2018, the same day Cohen pleaded guilty to charges related to the Daniels payments across the street in a Manhattan federal courtroom. A grand jury empaneled on January 23, 2023, ultimately returned the 34-count indictment in the hush-money case on March 30.

Trump’s first trial could begin next month: Merchan set the initial March 25 trial date last year, but he said they could “make any necessary” changes if there are any “actual conflicts” – a nod to the federal cases brought by special counsel Jack Smith.

Former President Donald Trump leaves Trump Tower in New York on Thursday.

Former President Donald Trump’s motorcade has departed Trump Tower, en route to a hearing in the New York hush money criminal case.

Trump was charged last March with falsifying business records to commit or conceal another crime.

Prosecutors allege that the former president engaged in a cover up scheme to hide reimbursement payments made to his former attorney, Michael Cohen who had paid hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels to stop her from going public about a past affair with Trump before the 2016 presidential election.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to the 34 charges and denied the affair.

Former President Donald Trump sits in the courtroom during his civil fraud trial at New York Supreme Court on January 11 in New York City. 

Donald Trump’s expected court appearance on Thursday comes just before the former president could face another consequential legal decision – this time on the fate of his business empire in New York.

Trump, barring unforeseen circumstances, will learn on Friday how much the judge overseeing the civil fraud case in New York is ordering him and his real estate business to pay for fraudulently inflating financial statements for a decade, a person familiar with knowledge of the decision said.

The New York attorney general’s office sued Trump, alleging he engaged in a decadelong fraud by inflating the value of properties to obtain better rates on loans and insurance. They also allege Trump and others violated numerous other New York laws related to the issuance of false financial statements.

The state is seeking more than $370 million and to ban Trump from doing business in New York state. It is also seeking to ban his two adult sons from running a business in the state for five years.

Trump and his adult sons have denied any wrongdoing and said no one was harmed by the alleged fraud.

Read more about the civil fraud case here.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis appears before Judge Scott McAfee for a hearing in the 2020 Georgia election interference case at the Fulton County Courthouse on November 21, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia. 

The judge presiding over the Georgia election subversion case against Donald Trump and several co-defendants said Monday that the district attorney who brought the case could be disqualified if she financially benefitted from a personal relationship with her lead prosecutor on the case.

The hearing set for Thursday is on motions to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis based on allegations that she and Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she hired, engaged in an improper romantic relationship that amounted to a conflict of interest. Trump and his co-defendants are also seeking to get the entire case dismissed.

The district attorney’s lawyer, Anna Cross, attacked the motions to dismiss the case.

Willis could also be required to testify, the judge said, noting that the defense attorneys have “established a good faith basis for relevance.”

A defense attorney for one of the defendants in the case, Mike Roman, has subpoenaed Willis and several of her staff to testify during Thursday’s hearing.

While McAfee said Willis may not be the first witness called on Thursday, he did not rule out the possibility of Willis taking the stand.

Willis had sought to quash subpoenas.

Former President Donald Trump sits at the defense table with his defense team in a Manhattan court during his arraignment on April 4, 2023, in New York City. 

Former President Donald Trump is expected to attend Thursday’s hearing in the New York hush money criminal case, according to Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead attorney for the Georgia election subversion case.

Trump had considered traveling to Georgia on Thursday for a hearing in the criminal case brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis but is now planning to attend the hearing in New York, multiple sources familiar with the matter said.

Both hearings are scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. ET.

Initially, Trump was intrigued by the idea of traveling to Georgia if Willis was forced to take the stand and answer questions under oath about allegations she engaged in an improper romantic relationship with her top deputy, Nathan Wade, one of the sources told CNN.

On Monday, a judge did not rule out the possibility that Willis would have to testify but made clear that it is contingent on what other witnesses say first.

Trump’s advisers made the case that the New York hearing is more important as it is a criminal case that directly impacts him, according to a source familiar with internal discussions.

Former President Donald Trump arrives outside of the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday, August 24, 2023.

An Atlanta-based grand jury on August 14 indicted Donald Trump and 18 others on state charges stemming from their alleged efforts to overturn the former president’s 2020 electoral defeat.

Four people have pleaded guilty.

The historic indictment is the fourth criminal case that Trump is facing.

The charges, brought in a sweeping investigation led by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, cover some of the most overt efforts by the former president and his allies to meddle in the 2020 presidential election.

Unlike the election subversion charges brought by special counsel Jack Smith, Willis’ case will be insulated if Trump is reelected in 2024; he will not be able to pardon himself or his allies of any state law convictions, nor will he be able to order the state-level prosecutors to withdraw the charges.

Trump pleaded not guilty via a court filing, waiving an in-court appearance as allowed by Georgia law.

Read more about the key evidence and charges in the election subversion case.