Friday's session will cover several pre-trial motions in the election-racketeering case against the former president and 14 remaining co-defendants
Donald Trump's criminal troubles in Georgia return to the spotlight Friday when the former president's lawyers join Fulton County prosecutors and counsel for several remaining co-defendants to work through a raft of pre-trial issues in the election-racketeering case.
The 1 p.m. Friday hearing, called by Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, will feature arguments from Trump's lawyers, who are seeking to outright dismiss the case on First Amendment and other constitutional grounds. They're also attempting to get more information about a specific piece of video evidence that District Attorney Fani Willis' team may be considering for use at trial.
At issue is a motion from the former president's counsel seeking clarity over whether Willis has yet shared with them via discovery a video of former senior Trump Justice Department officials Richard Donoghue and Jeffrey Rosen that was referenced on a potential witness list they received ahead of the still unscheduled trial.
Both former DOJ leaders are mentioned several times in the original criminal indictment surrounding allegations Trump and another senior DOJ official charged in the case, Jeffrey Clark, solicited them to make false public statements about the outcome of the 2020 presidential election won by Joe Biden.
Also on Friday's agenda: a request from defense lawyers who want to drop Trump co-defendant Trevian Kutti as a client. Kutti is a controversial publicist who once worked for the rapper Ye and who has since gained notoriety for her outlandish public statements about the 2020 election and her role in the criminal indictment.
In mid-December, Kutti's lawyers filed a motion with McAfee to exit the case. Speaking later to The Messenger, one of Kutti's attorneys said the decision to step away centered around their client's outlandish commentary and also not paying her legal bills. Kutti has been ordered by McAfee to appear in person at Friday's hearing.
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Rudy Giuliani, a longtime Trump lawyer also charged in the Georgia case, also has two pending motions on Friday's agenda.
One petition from September seeks to get the whole case against him tossed on the grounds that it doesn't give "sufficient notice as to what he must defend against at trial" and also that the allegations "are insufficient to protect him from double jeopardy in a separate prosecution."
Giuliani is widely seen to be "Co-Conspirator 1" in the federal election-subversion case brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith just against Trump in Washington, D.C.
In his motion in Georgia, Giuliani's attorneys argued that much of the alleged conduct in the state's case deals with matters that took place in other 2020 battlegrounds, including Michigan and Arizona, and that their client "still stands subject to subsequent punishment in those foreign jurisdictions for the conduct enumerated in the 'Acts' contained in this indictment."
"Consequently, this Court cannot allow the state to try and convict these defendants of a purported RICO violation here, through the use of criminal conduct which allegedly occurred in a foreign jurisdiction," Giuliani's attorneys said, noting potential violations of their client's 14th Amendment equal protection rights and also provisions in the Georgia state Constitution.
Giuliani also has a separate request for his lawyers to be allowed to interview four of their former fellow co-defendants who have since entered guilty pleas.
As a condition of their plea agreements, Georgia bail bondsman Scott Hall, and the former Trump lawyers Kenneth Chesebro, Sidney Powell and Jenna Ellis are all prohibited from communicating with current defendants about facts in the case. They also must cooperate with prosecutors in pre-trial matters.
Earlier this week, Giuliani through his lawyers argued that he must be given a chance to interview the witness prior to trial, calling it the "bare minimum that is required by Georgia law."
"Prohibiting interviews with counsel for co-defendants is in direct opposition to the plain language of the statutes and the clearly-stated policies and purposes of the discovery rules," Giuliani's counsel added.
Friday's hearing marks the first public session since Trump co-defendant Michael Roman filed a motion seeking to get the entire case tossed on grounds Willis hired a former romantic partner to help lead the prosecution.
Georgia GOP officials close to Trump, including the state House speaker and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, have called for an investigation into the Fulton County DA, who has said through a spokesperson she'd respond in writing in court to Roman's motion. It is not on the official agenda for Friday's hearing before McAfee.
McAfee is expected to cover several topics that didn't get addressed during a mid-December session that ran for nearly eight hours, culminating in Trump's lawyers saying that should their client win the White House in 2024 that any criminal proceedings would need to be postponed until the conclusion of his term in 2029.
Holdovers include a motion to dismiss the state racketeering charge, originally filed by defendant David Shafer and adopted by Trump’s team. McAfee still has yet to address two other holdover motions that Trump has backed seeking to challenge the RICO charges under the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution as well as another arguing First Amendment protections.
Although Willis has requested that the trial begin on Aug. 5, McAfee has not yet scheduled a trial date in the case.