Fani Willis decision expected this week, and more Trump trials news.
Keeping up with Donald Trump’s court schedule is a dizzying task, since he faces two federal trials, a criminal trial in Georgia, and two separate civil and criminal trials in New York. (Oh, and he’s running for president.) To make it easier to follow along, each Monday we’ll be looking back on all the Trump trial–related developmentsyou might have missed the previous week.
Last week, Trump settled one of his many hefty legal bills, putting up a nearly $92 million bond in the E. Jean Carroll defamation lawsuit. There was a catch, though: Carroll won’t yet be able to collect the money because his lawyers have also filed an appeal of the judge’s ruling. And coming up this week, Trump’s legal team will get to present its defense in the classified documents case in a court-ordered hearing, while a judge down in Georgia will decide whether embattled District Attorney Fani Willis will get to stay on her election interference case.
Fani Willis’ Future Could Be Determined This Week
After a two-week-long hearing into allegations that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis had an inappropriate relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, whom she hired to work on her election interference investigation, this week Judge Scott McAfee is expected to announce whether Willis should be disqualified from trying her case.
A quick refresher on what exactly went down in that hearing: Ashleigh Merchant, an attorney representing Mike Roman—who was charged alongside Trump and 17 others in Willis’ indictment—accused Willis of inappropriately hiring Wade and alleged that the two were dating before he was hired. That created a conflict of interest, Merchant argued, because Wade paid for vacations for himself and Willis with funds he earned from Fulton County.
Willis and Wade testified that their relationship began shortly after he was hired and said their trips together were split, with Willis paying Wade back for her share. But Merchant argued that Willis and Wade were lying about the timeline of their relationship, with each side calling in Willis’ father, John Floyd, Wade’s ex-business partner Terrence Bradley, and a slew of other witnesses to testify.
Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement AdvertisementMerchant wants Willis and Wade disqualified from prosecuting their case and to have all of Roman’s charges dropped. Trump has since joined the motion as well. McAfee said he needed two weeks to consider all the evidence presented, which means his decision would be expected by this Friday.
It’s worth noting that disqualifying a prosecutor is pretty rare, but if it does happen to Willis, then her case would be handed off to the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia. That group would pick her replacement, though there’s no guarantee that the indictment’s scope or charges filed would remain the same or move forward at all.
Trump Will Argue His Defense in the Classified Documents Case
Prosecutors and attorneys for the former president are gearing up for a long day in court this week, after Judge Aileen Cannon ordered a hearing to consider Trump’s claim that he’s protected from criminal prosecution under the Presidential Records Act.
AdvertisementNow Trump has thrown out a slew of arguments over why he can’t be prosecuted by special counsel Jack Smith, including: A) the claim that he was covered by presidential immunity, B) that he declassified materials as personal when leaving the White House, and C) that, while president, he was the “constitutional superior of the [National Archives].” Meanwhile, Smith has hit back in his own filings, arguing that the classified documents Trump held on to “were not keepsakes, memorabilia, or trophies for [Trump] to keep and use as he pleased after his return to life as a private citizen” but were required by law to be “preserved, retained and safeguarded by the National Archives Administration, as required by the Presidential Records Act.”
AdvertisementThe PRA was established in 1978, and it dictates that official records of presidents and vice presidents are officially converted from private to public when they leave office. It also leaves the National Archives in charge of managing these records.
AdvertisementCannon wants Trump’s legal team to preview its arguments on Thursday, specifically how and why the former president is protected from prosecution under its read of the PRA. She told both sides to be prepared to spend the whole day in court.
Trump Posts Bail, While Appealing Defamation Verdict
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The former president has started making a dent in his legal bills, securing a nearly $92 million bond due in the E. Jean Carroll defamation lawsuit. But Trump’s attorneys posted the bond while also filing an appeal request, a move that will prevent Carroll from actually collecting her payment while the appeals process plays out.
AdvertisementThe bond came one day after Trump’s attorneys failed to get an extension from Judge Lewis Kaplan, who flatly rejected the request and concluded, “[Trump] has had since January 26 to organize his finances with the knowledge that he might need to bond this judgment.” And on top of appealing Kaplan’s original judgment, Trump’s attorneys have also asked for a new trial. They argue that Kaplan “dramatically” limited the scope of what Trump could say during his testimony on the witness stand, which they believe was “erroneous and prejudicial.”
Advertisement AdvertisementTrump’s $92 million bond is the second payment he has had to make to Carroll, the first was last year, when a jury found that he had sexually abused and defamed her, awarding the writer $5 million. (He’s also appealing that judgment.) This comes just weeks after Trump was slapped with a $454 million penalty for overinflating his assets, stemming from a civil fraud lawsuit by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
AdvertisementAnd to kick things off this week, the former president went on CNBC’s Squawk Boxand may have defamed Carroll again. “I have no idea who she is, except one thing, I got sued,” said Trump of Carroll. He also characterized the defamation verdicts against him as “the most ridiculous decisions,” adding, “Including the Ms. Bergdorf Goodman, a person I’d never met.” Carroll’s lawyer said they were closely monitoring his remarks.
Trouble Is Brewing in Arizona
For at least the past six months, investigators in Arizona have been quietly looking into Trump’s efforts to overturn the state’s 2020 election results, an endeavor launched by the state’s Democratic attorney general, Kris Mayes. And last week there were signs that the investigation was ramping up; Politico first reported that Arizona prosecutors began issuing grand jury subpoenas to multiple people in Trump’s orbit.
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What Exactly Was the Fake Electors Scheme?
Read MoreAnd most of those folks are considered to be the 11 local GOP officials in Arizona who acted as fake electors for Trump in the aftermath of the 2020 election, according to unnamed sources who spoke to the Washington Post. Former Arizona GOP Chairwoman Kelli Ward and state Sens. Jake Hoffman and Anthony Kern are among the 11 fake electors, who broadcasted themselves signing a fake certificate in December 2020 certifying that Trump won the state. (He didn’t—Biden won the state of Arizona.) One of these fake electors was also spotted at Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally shortly before rioters launched an insurrection on the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Mayes told CNN last year that her investigation was “robust” and that her office was “going to make sure that we do it on our timetable, applying the resources that it requires to make sure that justice is done, for not only Arizonans, but for the entire country.”
Mayes is following in the footsteps of Georgia, Michigan, and Nevada, where AGs charged local GOP officials for acting as fake electors for Trump.
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