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Donald Trump's lawyers on Friday asked to delay one of his criminal trials until after the November election and to disqualify a district attorney who is prosecuting another case against the former president. . The split screen highlighted how all of Trump's criminal cases must overlap.
In Florida, Trump's lawyers told Judge Eileen Cannon that the Mar-a-Lago classified documents lawsuit should wait until after the 2024 election. Around the same time, in Georgia, lawyers for Trump and his co-defendants filed closing arguments seeking to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from the Georgia extortion case over her relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade. before Judge Scott McAfee.
Neither judge issued a ruling Friday. But both hearings could have a significant impact on when or whether President Trump goes to trial in those two cases.
President Trump's court schedule remains a jumble of pretrial legal motions, with three of his four trials still in limbo. In addition to Florida and Georgia, special counsel Jack Smith's election destruction case remains pending in Washington, and the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments next month on President Trump's request for presidential immunity.
The only case that seems set in stone: Trump's New York criminal trial will begin on March 25, but in court Friday, Trump's lawyers said that date was “set in stone.”
Here are the takeaways from another busy day in Trump's legal process.
Defense attorneys accuse Willis and Wade of 'courtroom fraud'
Parade, the defense attorney in the Fulton County extortion case, argued that Willis should be disqualified because he lied about his relationship with Wade and benefited from him in the form of travel.
Friday's hearing, with both Mr. Wade and Mr. Willis on the stand, was the final argument before Mr. McAfee decided to disqualify Mr. Willis, after weeks of testimony.
Craig Gillen, a defense attorney in the Georgia election-subversion case, accused Willis and Wade of “frauding the court,” arguing that Wade provided no financial benefit to Willis in their relationship.
Alex Slits/Pool/Reuters
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis will appear at a hearing in the Georgia election interference case in Atlanta on Friday.
“We have obtained from Mr. Wade all the records regarding the payments for these trips, cruises, airline tickets, etc.,” said Gillen, who represents former Georgia Republican Party Chairman David Schaefer. He is one of the defendants in this case.
“What's the only way they can save themselves? Don't pay attention to records, don't pay attention to things like that, can they save themselves? To records “Don't pay attention, don't pay attention to airlines, don't pay attention to flights, vacations, cruises. I paid him back in cash,” he added.
Willis testified that Wade reimbursed him in cash for airline tickets and other expenses he paid during the trip. But Guillen claimed he could find no record of repayment.
“Show me the receipt. Where have you ever withdrawn cash from the bank? I don't have any. Well, show me the deposit he had. Well, never, we have nothing. ” he said. “Please believe and believe in us, because that is the only way out of the trap they have set for themselves.”
Gillen concluded: Lawyers don't act like that. Your Excellency, these people are organized illegals. And they have to go. ”
Judge Cannon does not intervene in trial date for President Trump's classified documents case
In the classified documents case, Cannon did not say Friday when he would set a new trial date, but he said the former president is likely to be on the ballot and the prospect of holding the trial closer to Election Day. Asked.
Special Counsel Jack Smith has asked for a July date, but Trump's lawyers have asked in papers for the trial to begin in August, when they actually wanted it to begin after the November election. He claims that he was.
Trump's lawyer, Todd Blanche, also questioned whether holding the trial so close to the November election constituted election interference on the part of the Justice Department.
Regarding the timing of the trial, Blanche said, “This is a court decision, and no one is going to dispute it.'' Regarding the question of whether holding a trial so close to the election “would constitute complete election interference,'' the prosecution said He added that he should answer.
Prosecutor Jay Blatt criticized the defense for suggesting an August trial date, even though the defense argued in court Friday that a trial before the November election would be “unfair.” did.
“Those are bogus dates,” Blatt said of the August proposal from the Trump campaign. “Why did they propose such a date?”
Cannon asked relatively few questions during the morning session.
Trump attended Friday's hearing but did not speak publicly inside or outside the courtroom. Compared to his past hearings in court, where Trump sat in his defense seat, he appeared relatively relaxed and passively listening. He whispered several times while surrounded by his lawyers, but the atmosphere was less tense than at previous hearings.
Much of Friday's hearing on scheduling the classified documents case against Trump focused on the former president's requests for more information from various government agencies, including President Biden's White House. Because he claims these government agencies are part of the prosecution team in this case.
Prosecutor David Harbach argued Friday that holding a hearing on discovery requests requested by President Trump is unnecessary and unreasonable. President Trump claims the Biden administration conspired to bring charges against him to damage his 2024 campaign. Mr. Harbach called Mr. Trump's theory “baseless” and said his lawyers had failed to provide any legal precedent to support their request for a hearing on the issue.
“They need to present their case to the court,” he told Cannon.
Mr. Trump's lawyer, Emil Bove, said prosecutors are working with the FBI and other national intelligence leaders to review classified documents in the case, and that those individuals have been given advice on what to do with specific documents in the case. He claimed that he had received advice on whether to use the product.
Mr. Cannon pressed Mr. Harbach to argue that a public hearing was not necessary. “Don't you think there is a relevant factual dispute” to her decision about whether the prosecution team extends to other agencies and offices, she asked?
When Mr. Trump's lawyers insisted on holding a hearing, Mr. Cannon pressed them to explain how they would narrow the scope, asking them to explain exactly what they would examine at the hearing.
Holding such a hearing could delay the progress of the case and significantly delay the prosecution's trial.
In the Georgia case, McAfee said Friday that if Fulton County's lead prosecutor lies about a romantic relationship on the witness stand, the remedy is not more aggressive court action. He suggested that professional disciplinary action could be taken in state court. Remove them from the Trump case.
“What you're proposing now is that if a representative of the state, the chief prosecutor, the district attorney himself says something on the record that's not true, that should be immediately and aggressively policed by the trial court. Does that mean it has to be?'' McAfee said. “Basically what I'm saying is, where in the law is there a remedy for false statements? Normally we'd send you down the street to a bar.”
Alex Slits/Pool/AP
Fulton County Senior Judge Scott McAfee will preside over the court Friday in Atlanta.
Just because McAfee asked the question doesn't necessarily mean he leans that way.
Mr. McAfee also questioned evidence in text messages that Mr. Wade's former law partner, Terrence Bradley, knew about Mr. Wade's relationship with Mr. Willis.
Steve Sadow, Donald Trump's lawyer, said Bradley texted another defense attorney, “Absolutely,” when asked if he thought the Wade Willis case began before he was appointed special counsel. He claimed to be speculating and deliberately avoiding testifying. About the timeline.
Bradley's text messages are a key piece of evidence in the defense's bid to disqualify Willis, which they argue shows Willis and Wade lied about the beginning of their relationship.
However, McAfee questioned what corroborates Bradley's writing if his testimony is “impeached.”
“If we take the view that he thoroughly impeached himself and did not act with integrity, what is left?” McAfee asked.
“Usually if the state has a witness that goes sideways, they're locked up. They sit down with detectives. They have a complete statement. We don't have that here,” McAfee said. continued.
Mr. Sadow argued that Mr. Bradley's text messages should be considered such prior statements.
“What you have are text messages and these are previous statements that Bradley made himself. It wasn't given to him by anyone,” Sadow said.
