Trump Georgia hearing drama as Fani Willis testifies: Live

Thursday’s hearing in Atlanta hinges not on whether Fulton County DAFani Willis and prosecutor Nathan Wade had a relationship — as the pair have already admitted they were romantically involved — but whether Ms Willis could be disqualified from the case. The defence has argued that the couple have financially benefited from Ms Willis hiring Mr Wade to prosecute the former president’s case.

The former DA’s office employee’s testimony came in direct contradiction to Nathan Wade’s testimony.

Kelly Rissman was watching the case unfold today:

The former president will stand trial on 25 March, what will likely be the first trial among the four criminal cases against him, as well as the first criminal trial against any current or former president.

With Mr Trump in attendance, New York Judge Juan Merchan held a pretrial hearing on Thursday in which he confirmed that the trial would go ahead as planned on the previously scheduled court date and rejected the former president’s attorneys’ attempts to dismiss the case altogether.

Alex Woodward reports from the courtroom in Lower Manhattan:

Donald Trump has tried to claim that he intentionally confused Nikki Haley and Nancy Pelosi during a rally address last month when he falsely stated that his rival for the Republican presidential nomination had been in charge of Capitol security in Washington, DC, on 6 January 2021, rather than the then-House speaker.

The former president made the original blunder in New Hampshire on 19 January ahead of that state’s GOP primary – which he nevertheless went on to win – wrongly telling the crowd during an anecdote about the Capitol riot: “Nikki Haley is in charge of security. We offered her 10,000 people, soldiers, National Guard, whatever they want. They turned it down.”

The gaffe came a day after Mr Trump had confused Joe Biden with Barack Obama and prompted Ms Haley, whom he has nicknamed “Birdbrain”, to question his mental wellbeing, given that she was not even in DC that day, let alone responsible for its policing.

Joe Sommerlad has the story:

Thursday’s courtroom painted detailed portraits of both Ms Willis and Mr Wade, showcasing two very different personalities on the stand. It also offered some clarity on their former and current relationship.

In a hearing riddled with objections, witnesses offered conflicting testimony revolving around the timeline of their romantic relationship, which Mr Wade described as “private but not a secret,” and around the friendship between Ms Willis and a former DA’s office employee.

Here are some key revelations from the heated trial:

Donald Trump’s legal team has filed a 17-page reply to Special Counsel Jack Smith at the Supreme Court in which he urged the court again to uphold a lower court’s decision.

The former president’s legal team wants the court to stay the immunity decision and to reject Mr Smith’s request to expedite things.

“The issues in this appeal stand among the most complex, sensitive, and momentous that this Court will be called upon to decide. So far, they have been the subject of briefing on extremely compressed schedules, and that has caused various misstatements of law both by the Special Counsel and the lower courts. The issues warrant careful consideration on an ordinary briefing schedule.”

Here’s our earlier reporting on Special Counsel Jack Smith urging the Supreme Court for a quick start to the trial in Mr Trump’s federal election interference case:

The FBI source who claimed to have information regarding alleged bribes paid to President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, has been charged with fabricating the allegations during interviews with federal agents.

David Weiss, the special prosecutor and Trump appointee who is overseeing two federal cases against Hunter Biden, obtained a grand jury indictment in the Central District of California against Alexander Smirnov on charges that he made false statements to federal investigators during his time as a confidential human source for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The Georgia prosecutor leading a sprawling election interference case against Donald Trump is on the witness stand for a hearing on allegations of misconduct levelled against her by the former president and his co-defendants – questions that could potentially disqualify them from the case.

The attorneys had already admitted to their relationship but firmly rejected the “meritless” and “salacious” allegations as “bad-faith” attempts to see her kicked off a case that Mr Trump has baselessly labelled a conspiracy against him, according to court filings.

Thursday’s hearing is scrutinizing allegations that the former couple financially benefited from Ms Willis hiring Mr Wade to prosecute the former president’s case, which charges Mr Trump and more than a dozen co-defendants as part of a “criminal enterprise” to overturn the state’s election results in 2020.

“I’ve been very anxious to have this conversation with you today,” Ms Willis told defence attorney Ashleigh Merchant. “It’s ridiculous that you lied on Monday and yet here we are. … I’m actually surprised that the hearing continued. But since it did, here I am.”