Trump Georgia 2020 election case motions hearing

Former President Donald Trump’s lawyers argued in court Friday that his Georgia election subversion indictment should be thrown out because it “violates free speech,” and that if he wins the 2024 election, the trial would need to be postponed anyway, until he completes his second presidential term.

They made the comments at an all-day hearing in Atlanta that featured arguments from attorneys for some of the other 14 defendants beyond Trump. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee held the hearing to address a slew of pretrial motions about the potential trial date, attempts to dismiss the charges and discovery matters.

McAfee did not issue any rulings from the bench during the roughly six-hour hearing.

This was the first in-court appearance for Trump’s legal team in the Georgia case, where he and 14 others are facing a bevy of state charges, including racketeering or RICO, for their attempts to overturn the 2020 election. They have pleaded not guilty.

Trump’s team argued that the indictment, filed by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, essentially criminalizes political activity that is protected by the First Amendment.

“You take the facts as alleged in the indictment… as applied constitutionally with the First Amendment, you’ll find that it violates free speech, freedom of petitioning, all the expressions that the First Amendment is designed to protect, and therefore the indictment needs to be dismissed,” Trump lawyer Steven Sadow told the judge.

If the case survives the motions to dismiss from Trump and others, Willis hopes to hold one large trial with all 15 remaining defendants. A trial date hasn’t been set yet, but state prosecutors said they still want it to begin in August 2024, which Trump opposes.

“It’s very possible at that time, that my client will be running for election for president of the United States for the Republican Party,” Sadow said, adding that “the preference would be that he not be on trial during the time that he is campaigning.”

At one point, McAfee asked Sadow what would happen to the case if Trump wins the 2024 election and the trial hasn’t happened yet. The question illuminates the unprecedented challenges McAfee – and the nation – are grappling with: That the leading candidate for next year’s GOP nomination is under indictment in four cases.

“Under the Supremacy Clause and its duty to the president of the United States, this trial would not take place at all until after he left his term of office,” Sadow replied.

Fulton County prosecutors pushed back against Sadow’s claims that the indictment is an attempt to interfere in the 2024 election and undermine Trump’s chances of winning. Trump has claimed Willis, a Democrat, brought the case due to anti-Republican bias.

Prosecutor Nathan Wade said Willis “has no interest in interfering or getting involved in this presidential election” and that “her sole purpose is to move this case forward.”

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee said Friday that Georgia prosecutors should consider reaching out to Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith to coordinate on discovery issues.

McAfee made the comments during a discussion about former President Donald Trump’s recent motion seeking access to any documents or materials that Smith has that might be relevant to the separate state case in Georgia.

Trump lawyer Steven Sadow wrote in a previous court filing that he reached out to Trump’s lawyers in the federal case, but they told him that there’s a court order prohibiting them from sharing materials with people who aren’t directly involved in that case.

So, in a filing, Sadow proposed that the Fulton County prosecutors reach out to Smith’s team and the federal judge in DC “to determine if suitable arrangements can be made” to hand over the materials.

“Mr. Sadow suggested it might be worth a phone call” to Smith’s team, McAfee told prosecutors on Friday. “That’s not something I would ever order. But it might be worth it.”

Fulton County prosecutor Nathan Wade suggested that Sadow subpoena the Justice Department for the federal discovery, and Sadow said he would “prepare” a subpoena that he’ll send to Smith’s team.

These questions about overlapping discovery speak to the challenging dynamic of Trump facing criminal charges in both state and federal court for many of the same actions he took in an effort to overturn his 2020 defeat.

Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee has gaveled the hearing to a close, roughly 6 hours after it began.

The judge has not ruled on any of the motions presented by former President Donald Trump or any of his co-defendants in the election subversion racketeering case.

Defense Attorney Don Samuel, who is arguing to fight part of the indictment of his client, former 2020 Trump attorney Ray Smith in court today, has a long history of helping high profile defendants get out of trouble in Georgia.

In 2000, he was co-counsel for former Baltimore Ravens All-Pro Bowl linebacker Ray Lewis, who was charged with double murder outside of Atlanta bars after a late-night incident following the 1999 Super Bowl. Samuel and his law partner were able to get all of Lewis’ charges dropped, in exchange for a misdemeanor plea.

In 2010, Samuel and his partner persuaded a Georgia district attorney not to bring charges against former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in his connection to sexual assault charges of a college student in Milledgeville, Georgia.

And another example was in 2015, when Samuel and his partner got charges dismissed for a director and producer of a movie that was filming in Georgia charged with involuntary manslaughter when a crew member was killed by a train.

And perhaps most famously documented, he was the defense attorney who defended Jim Williams, an antique dealer chronicled in the book and movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Williams was tried four times before he was eventually acquitted in the final trial.

Former President Donald Trump’s lawyer argued Friday that if Trump wins the 2024 presidential election, the 2020 election subversion trial in Fulton County could not go forward until he has left office.

“If your client does win election in 2024, could he even be tried in 2025?” Judge Scott McAfee, who is presiding over the criminal case, asked Trump’s lawyer Steven Sadow.

Sadow said it was his belief “that under the Supremacy Clause and its duty to the president of the United States, this trial would not take place at all until after he left his term of office.”

If Trump does win the election and McAfee decided Trump couldn’t be tried until he left office, that would delay his trial date until at least 2029. Sadow said Friday that the delay would only apply to Trump and would not extend to his co-defendants.

Another one of Donald Trump's major legal battles — the $250 million civil fraud trial against the former president and his business — continued Friday in New York.

Judge Arthur Engoron rejected an effort for Palm Beach, Florida, real estate expert Lawrence Moens to testify about the valuation of Mar-a-Lago, Trump's home and resort.

In a deposition, Moens said he believed Mar-a-Lago in 2023 was worth $1.51 billion. “[I]f Mar-A -Lago was available for sale, I am confident that in short order, I would be in a position to produce a ready, willing and able buyer would have interest in securing the property for their personal use as a residence, or even, their own club.”

Asked who that buyer would be, Moens said: “I could dream up anyone from Elon Musk to Bill Gates and everyone in between. Kings, emperors, heads of state.”

Assistant Attorney General Kevin Wallace argued Friday that allowing Moens to testify would lead to the defense attorneys spending a day of trial to argue “you’re wrong” to Engoron, and that Mar-a-Lago "should be valued at $1 billion because Elon Musk might want to move to Palm Beach."

"And that’s what we’re going to do. Motion denied," Engoron said.

Trump’s son Eric Trump is slated to return as a witness for the defense on Wednesday. And Trump is scheduled to be called by his own lawyers Monday, December 11.  

Trump lawyer Steven Sadow explained Friday why he opposes holding the Georgia election subversion trial against the former president in August, which is what Fulton County prosecutors are pushing for.

“I don’t see how any way this court could be set for trial in August,” Sadow said.

“It’s very possible at that time, that my client will be running for election for president of the United States for the Republican Party,” Sadow said.

Sadow added that Trump is “far ahead in the polls” for the GOP nomination, which means there’s a strong possibility that he will be the party’s standard-bearer by the time of the proposed August trial.

Fulton County prosecutors previously proposed that the trial begin on August 5, 2024. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee hasn’t set a date yet for Trump and the remaining defendants. 

"Our obvious goal is, and has been, to stick to our August trial date," prosecutor Nathan Wade said.

Asked by the judge if Trump wanted to personally attend every day of the trial, Sadow said Trump would want to be in the courtroom for jury selection, and said he didn’t know about the rest of the trial.

 

Former President Donald Trump's lawyer, Steven Sadow, spoke for the first time at the Georgia election subversion hearing, and encouraged the judge to dismiss the case on First Amendment grounds.

This is the first in-court appearance for Trump’s legal team in this case since his indictment in August.

“You take the facts as alleged in the indictment, throughout the RICO count, and when you do that, as applied constitutionally with the First Amendment, you’ll find that it violates free speech, freedom of petitioning, all the expressions that the First Amendment is designed to protect, and therefore the indictment needs to be dismissed,” Sadow told the judge.

“You can do that pre-trial,” he added.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee asked prosecutors Friday if any fake electors have ever been criminally charged before, touching on the unprecedented nature of the Georgia case.

“Just so we can set bearings, in your research of this, has an elector or someone purported to be an elector ever been prosecuted before?” McAfee asked.

Wooten added: “Just because it hasn’t happened before, in our opinion, doesn’t really have much affect on this case.”

There are a handful of historical examples of groups of unofficial electors meeting and casting votes for president, though the facts of those situations were very different from the Georgia fake electors case. For one, they weren’t based on false claims that there were millions of illegal votes, as Donald Trump claimed in 2020.

The hearing has resumed after a short break.