Lots of questions about when Fulton trial may start. DA's office had asked for August start date but that seems highly unlikely.

One thing that needs to be resolved first: Trump's presidential immunity fight at the U.S. Supreme Court, to be argued in late April In a recent email to defense attorneys, Fulton prosecutors said they planned to respond to Trump’s immunity claim within two weeks of the Supreme Court’s decision. That means it could be late June or even July before the DA’s office responds

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Lots of folks have been asking whether Judge McAfee's ruling yesterday striking 6 of the 41 counts in the Fulton indictment means the Trump-Raffensperger phone call is no longer an active issue in the case. That's not true 1/ Trump still faces a false statements charge for 13 things he said during that recorded Jan. 2, 2021 phone call. The statements total more than a page in the indictment. From the document:

Coming at 1 pm: closing arguments from Fulton election defendants who are arguing that DA Fani Willis should be disqualified from the case. We're also expecting both sides to try and submit additional evidence, incl text messages, cell records and an affidavit Stream the hearing here: youtube.com/@judgescottmca…

Greetings from the Fulton County Courthouse. We’re awaiting a 9:30 hearing before Judge Scott McAfee about whether DA Fani Willis’ relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade is a disqualifying conflict Read my thread with the backstory and what to expect today

https://twitter.com/tamarhallerman/status/1757933816193130546

On deck Thursday morning: an evidentiary hearing in Fulton County that could make or break the Trump election interference case. Here are some of the dynamics we're watching for🧵 This hearing before Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee is 5+ weeks in the making.

He's considering a motion filed by Ashleigh Merchant, attorney for defendant Mike Roman. She's calling for the Fulton DA's office to be removed from the case + charges against Roman to be dropped

New: Fulton special prosecutor Nathan Wade accusing defendant Mike Roman of abusing the legal system, going on a fishing expedition by subpoenaing his personal and law firm bank records.

"Roman did this not for relevancy, but to harass, bully, oppress, and intimidate" opponents Roman recently subpoenaed Wade, DA Willis + colleagues to testify at a Feb. 15 hearing re: his motion to disqualify them from the election interference case

Roman also subpoenaed financial records involving Wade, his firm from Synovus Bank
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BREAKING: Fulton DA Fani Willis improperly hired an alleged romantic partner to prosecute Donald Trump and financially benefited from their relationship, according to a bombshell new court filing that argued the indictment was unconstitutional.

ajc.com/politics/break… The filing, from defendant Mike Roman, alleged that special prosecutor Nathan Wade paid for lavish vacations he took with Willis using the Fulton funds his law firm received. It calls for the entire DA’s office to be DQed from the case

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On deck today: Donald Trump’s most combative Fulton co-defendant is expected to be in court today, trying to stay out of jail.

A preview from @dwickert:

ajc.com/politics/trump… Harrison Floyd hearing is about to begin. You can live stream here:

Just in: Fulton prosecutors asking judge to schedule Trump trial on Aug 5, 2024.

"This proposed trial date balances potential delays from Defendant Trump’s other criminal trials in sister sovereigns and the other Defendants’ constitutional speedy trial rights." Earlier this week, DA Willis said she anticipated Trump's trial could extend past the elections and into 2025, so this gels with that timeline.

Prosecutors previously said they expect their case would take 4-5 months to present in court, not counting jury selection

Whoa: Jonathan Miller, an attorney for Misty Hampton, says he shared the proffers with a media outlet “The public has a right to know," Miller says.

"Well, it’s a good slogan,” Judge McAfee responds, but do we have any statute that says pretrial discovery is part of 1st Amendment? The leaks “come with a lot of side effects” he says.

Coming at 1:30: a hearing before Judge Scott McAfee over a request from Fulton prosecutors to issue a protective order. The DA wants McAfee to bar defense attorneys from disseminating sensitive discovery materials such as the witness proffers that were leaked to the media on Mon The hearing will be streamed here: youtube.com/@judgescottmca…

Harrison Floyd's legal team fires back at the Fulton DA's office, which in a filing yesterday seemed to imply that Team Floyd leaked the proffers.

They provided the email saying a previous statement that they leaked was a typo + said the leaker will tell Judge McAfee today "The State knows that Mr. Floyd and his team were not the cause of any problem and is wasting valuable resources and it will be shown today."

.... to say the least, today's 1:30 hearing with Judge McAfee is going to be something.

Just in: The Fulton County DA's office is seeking emergency safeguards after recorded interviews featuring four defendants in the Trump case were leaked to the media "The release of these confidential video recordings is clearly intended to intimidate witnesses in this case, subjecting them to harassment and threats prior to trial," the DA's office argues.

Hello from Fulton Judge Scott McAfee's courtroom, where former Black Voices for Trump head Harrison Floyd is pushing to uphold subpoenas he sent to three state and local agencies 🧵 Floyd's legal strategy is unique. He plans to present evidence that Trump actually won Georgia in 2020 – or that there was enough evidence on January 4, 2021, when Floyd spoke with Fulton poll worker Ruby Freeman, that his beliefs were not unreasonable, hence no mal intent

BREAKING: Attorney JENNA ELLIS is taking a plea deal in Fulton County. She's pleading guilty to one count of aiding and abetting false statements and writings Ellis is the fourth of 19 defendants to plead guilty in this case. Her agreement comes less than a week after two others, Sidney Powell and Ken Chesebro, negotiated deals just hours before going to trial.

Just in: Now that the matters of Powell and Chesebro are sorted, Fulton Judge Scott McAfee is turning his attention to co-defendant Harrison Floyd.

McAfee holding a hearing on Nov. 3 on motions from various local and state bodies to quash subpoenas from Floyd's attorneys In recent weeks, Floyd's attorneys have issued a flurry of requests to these agencies. Among their asks: images of all absentee ballots cast in Fulton County in the 2020 prez election and their envelopes + reports from Dominion, which makes GA's voting machines

BREAKING: Attorney KEN CHESEBRO, who advised the Trump campaign on assembling a slate of Trump electors in swing states like Georgia, has reached a plea deal with Fulton prosecutors, according to a source familiar. (Confirming @AnnaBower) He will receive probation. More to come Hearing is starting now. It will pop up here: youtube.com/@judgescottmca…

Good morning from the Fulton County Courthouse, where 450 potential jurors for Ken Chesebro’s trial are slated to fill out questionnaires this morning Lots of uncertainty after co-defendant Sidney Powell, who was also slated for trial with Chesebro today, reached a plea deal with prosecutors yesterday.

Qs swirling of whether Chesebro will do the same. Otherwise it’s 2 weeks jury selection + 5 mos of trial. We will see.

BREAKING: Attorney SIDNEY POWELL is taking a plea deal in Fulton County, one day before jury selection was set to begin for her election interference case alongside Ken Chesebro. She has agreed to 6 years probation, a $6,000 fine, $2,700 restitution to the state of GA, writing an apology letter to the citizens of Georgia and to testify truthfully at trial

Judge McAfee continues to clear the decks ahead of jury selection for Sidney Powell and Ken Chesebro trial on Friday.

In a new order, he finds that the Electoral Count Act "does not preempt GA criminal prosecutions related to elections." He also dismisses other arguments McAfee also grants Chesebro's summons for Mike Murphy, an assistant AG in Wisconsin, who wrote a memo that concluded that Trump electors who met in the state didn’t violate WI's election laws.

If approved by a judge in WI, the summons will essentially function like a subpoena

We're back in Judge McAfee's courtroom for another hearing involving pre-trial motions from Ken Chesebro and Sidney Powell.

On deck are several motions targeting the DA's use of RICO.... so it's no surprise to see special prosecutor John Floyd, a top RICO expert, seated here On deck for today: