Closing summary
Lawyers presented their closing arguments in a three-day evidentiary hearing to determine whether the district attorney Fani Willis should be disqualified from handling the election interference against Donald Trump because of her romantic relationship with a deputy handling the case.
Judge Scott McAfee, who is overseeing the Georgia election interference case, indicated that he would rule within the next two weeks on whether to remove Willis from the case.
Joe Biden signed into law a short-term stopgap spending bill to avert a partial government shutdown. The bill was approved by the Senate on Thursday following a House vote that narrowly averted a shutdown that was due to occur this weekend.
A federal judge overseeing Donald Trump’s criminal case over his retention of classified documents appeared inclined to reject a proposal by special counsel prosecutors that she set a schedule culminating in a July trial. Trump himself attended the entirety of the hearing on Friday.
Prosecutors from special counsel Jack Smith’s office said holding Trump’s classified documents trial before the November presidential election would not violate the justice department’s policy against taking actions close to an election.
Joe Biden announced that the US will begin dropping food into Gaza by air “in the coming days” and consider making deliveries by sea. The news came after more than 100 Palestinians in Gaza were killed when desperate crowds gathered around aid trucks and Israeli troops opened fire on Thursday.
The Alaska Republican senator Lisa Murkowski has endorsed Nikki Haley in the GOP presidential primary, marking the first endorsement from a sitting senator for Haley.
Greg Abbott, the hard-right governor of Texas, is “absolutely” on Donald Trump’s short list for vice-president should Trump as expected win the Republican nomination to face Joe Biden.
Updated
A key question before Judge Scott McAfee is what standard he should use to determine if Fani Willis should be disqualified. Lawyers for the defense argued that the appearance of a conflict of interest was enough to disqualify Willis.
Adam Abbate, a lawyer in Willis’s office, said on Friday:
Not a single shred of evidence was produced through the exhibits or any testimony showing how their due process rights or constitutional rights were violated by the relationship that began in March 2022. There has been absolutely no evidence the district attorney has benefitted financially at all.
Adam Abbate, representing Willis, said that Georgia law was clear in saying an actual conflict had to exist. “They must show an actual conflict,” he said. Experts say state law has long established this high bar to clear and the defendants in the case have not done so, but McAfee seemed somewhat skeptical on Friday that the appearance of a conflict wouldn’t be enough.
A disqualification would upend the case and delay it past the 2024 election. The Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, a state agency, would have the sole discretion to reassign the case to another prosecutor, and there’s no timeline for how long that could take.
Pressed by McAfee, Ashleigh Merchant, a lawyer for Michael Roman, struggled to articulate what exactly Willis’s personal interest in the case was. “I think you know it when you see it,” he said.
Lawyers presented their closing arguments on Friday afternoon in a three-day evidentiary hearing to determine whether the district attorney Fani Willis should be disqualified from handling the election interference against Donald Trump because of her romantic relationship with a deputy handling the case.
The hearing was the coda to a dramatic deviation from the racketeering case against the former US president and 14 remaining co-defendants for trying to overturn the election in Georgia.
Willis sat at the counsel table in court on Friday for the latter half of the hearing, and Judge Scott McAfee, who is overseeing the case, said he hoped to issue a decision on the matter in the next two weeks.
The matter kicked off in January when Michael Roman, a Republican operative and one of the defendants in the case, filed a motion claiming Willis financially benefitted from the case because of a romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, a top prosecutor in the case. Trump and several other defendants later joined the request.
Willis and Wade both admitted to a romantic relationship, but both said it only began after he was hired on 1 November 2021. They both testified about vacations they had taken together and revealed personal details about a romantic relationship that they say only began in 2022, after he was hired, and ended last summer.
The Republican senator for Alaska, Lisa Murkowski, has endorsed Nikki Haley in the GOP presidential primary, marking the first endorsement from a sitting senator for Haley.
“I’m proud to endorse Gov Nikki Haley,” Murkowski said in a statement.
America needs someone with the right values, vigor, and judgment to serve as our next President – and in this race, there is no one better than her.
The endorsement comes just days before Super Tuesday, when Alaska and several other states will cast their ballots.
Murkowski was among seven Republican senators who voted to convict Donald Trump for his alleged role in the January 6 insurrection.
In closing arguments in the hearing to determine whether the Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, should be disqualified from handling the Trump election interference case, lawyers for the district attorney’s office argued that the defendants had failed to show any actual conflict of interest.
Adam Abbate, a lawyer with the district attorney’s office, accused the defendants’ attorneys of pushing “speculation and conjecture” and trying to harass and embarrass Willis with questions on the witness stand that have nothing to do with the issue at hand, AP reported.
“We have absolutely no evidence that Ms Willis received any financial gain or benefit” from the relationship, Abbate told the judge.
Attorney for Fulton County DA’s office argues Trump co-defendants are trying to disqualify Fani Willis from the Georgia election interference case by alleging an appearance of impropriety instead of providing actual proof. pic.twitter.com/oS4az2xYCg
— The Recount (@therecount) March 1, 2024
Judge says he hopes to make decision in Fani Willis disqualification hearing in next two weeks
Judge Scott McAfee has said he hopes to have a resolution on the motion to disqualify the Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, from the case she brought against Donald Trump within the next two weeks.
The hearing is now adjourned.
New: Judge McAfee says he hopes to have a resolution on motion to disqualify Fani Willis in Trump case in the next two weeks
— Sam Levine (@srl) March 1, 2024
Updated
The day so far
It’s been a big day for two of Donald Trump’s most significant court cases. In the matter of the classified documents found in his possession at Mar-a-Lago, judge Aileen Cannon sounded skeptical of prosecutors’ request for a July trial, but did not set a new date. In the case alleging meddling in Georgia’s 2020 election, Trump’s attorneys argued for the removal of district attorney Fani Willis, saying failing to do so would undermine faith in the legal system. Willis is now in court as her office is expected to argue why it should remain on the case.
Here’s what else is going on today:
Joe Biden said the United States would airdrop aid into Gaza, and may also make deliveries by sea, while calling on Israel to facilitate access by land.
Trump said Texas’s Republican governor, Greg Abbott, is a potential candidate to be his vice-president.
Nikki Haley campaigned in Virginia ahead of its primary next week, and was interrupted by protesters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Updated
Fani Willis back in court for closing arguments
Meanwhile, in Georgia, Fani Willis is back in the courtroom where a judge is considering whether to remove her from the election meddling case she brought against Donald Trump and 18 co-defendants:
Fulton County DA Fani Willis returns to the courtroom for closing arguments in Trump co-defendants' effort to disqualify her and top prosecutor Nathan Wade from the Georgia election interference case. pic.twitter.com/sDpLLRtXD1
— The Recount (@therecount) March 1, 2024
Updated
Joe Biden’s vow to get humanitarian aid into Gaza by air and potentially sea comes after more than 100 people were killed amid a scramble to pick up food in the besieged territory, leading even some of Israel’s allies to demand an investigation. Here’s more on that, from the Guardian’s Harriet Sherwood, Emma Graham-Harrison and Julian Borger:
Israel is facing growing international pressure for an investigation after more than 100 Palestinians in Gaza were killed when desperate crowds gathered around aid trucks and Israeli troops opened fire on Thursday.
Israel said people died in a crush or were run over by aid lorries although it admitted its troops had opened fire on what it called a “mob”. But the head of a hospital in Gaza said 80% of injured people brought in had gunshot wounds.
The UK called for an “urgent investigation and accountability”. In a statement, David Cameron, the foreign secretary, said: “The deaths of people in Gaza waiting for an aid convoy were horrific … this must not happen again.” Israel must allow more aid into Gaza, Lord Cameron added.
France called for an independent investigation into the circumstances of the disaster, and Germany said the Israeli army must fully explain what happened. Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said: “Every effort must be made to investigate what happened and ensure transparency.”
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said 112 people were killed and more than 750 others were injured as crowds rushed towards a convoy of trucks carrying food aid.
Updated
Biden says US to 'pull out every stop' to get aid into Gaza, will 'insist' Israel cooperate
The United States will work with Jordan to drop food into Gaza by air and will consider make deliveries by sea, Joe Biden said, while noting he will “insist” Israel allow more trucks bearing aid to enter the territory by land.
“In the coming days, we are going to join with our friends in Jordan and others in providing airdrops of additional food and supplies into [Gaza] and seek to continue to open up other avenues into [Gaza], including the possibility of a marine corridor to deliver large amounts of humanitarian assistance,” Biden said in the Oval Office. The president initially misspoke, saying the airdrops would be done in Ukraine rather than Gaza.
“In addition to expanding deliveries by land, as I said, we’re going to insist that Israel facilitate more trucks and more routes to get more and more people the help they need. No excuses, because the truth is aid flowing to Gaza is nowhere nearly enough now – it’s nowhere nearly enough. Innocent lives are on the line and children’s lives are on the line.”
Updated
In a statement released just as Joe Biden announced the US would airdrop humanitarian aid into Gaza, the independent senator Bernie Sanders called on the president to approve such action – while also insisting the onus lay on Israel to help civilians.
“The United States, which has helped fund the Israeli military for years, cannot sit back and allow hundreds of thousands of innocent children to starve to death. As a result of Israeli bombing and restrictions on humanitarian aid, the people of Gaza are facing an unprecedented humanitarian disaster. Whether Netanyahu’s rightwing government likes it or not, the United States must immediately begin to airdrop food, water, and other lifesaving supplies into Gaza,” the progressive lawmaker from Vermont, who caucuses with the Democrats, wrote.
Here’s more:
But while an airdrop will buy time and save lives, there is no substitute for sustained ground deliveries of what is needed to sustain life in Gaza. Israel MUST open the borders and allow the United Nations to deliver supplies in sufficient quantities. The United States should make clear that failure to do so immediately will lead to a fundamental break in the U.S. – Israeli relationship and the immediate halt of all military aid.
Updated
Biden announces US to airdrop aid into Gaza
The US will begin airdropping humanitarian aid into Gaza, Joe Biden has said.
Biden said the airdrops will begin in the “coming days”, an announcement that came a day after more than 100 Palestinians in Gaza were killed when desperate crowds gathered around aid trucks and Israeli troops opened fire.
Trump lawyer says appearance of impropriety enough to disqualify
Donald Trump’s lawyer Steve Sadow has argued that Fani Willis should be disqualified from the election interference case because she may have lied to the court about her undisclosed affair with special prosecutor Nathan Wade.
Sadow said Willis’s claim under oath that her relationship with Wade did not begin until after she hired him was not credible, Reuters reports. He told the judge:
Once you have the appearance of impropriety ... the law in Georgia is clear: That’s enough to disqualify.
Updated
Biden signs stopgap bill to avert government shutdown
Joe Biden has signed into law a short-term stopgap spending bill to avert a partial government shutdown, the White House has said.
The bill was approved by the Senate on Thursday following a House vote that narrowly averted a shutdown that was due to occur this weekend.
The temporary extension funds the departments of agriculture, transportation, interior and others through 8 March. It funds the Pentagon, homeland security, health and state through 22 March.
Trump lawyers argue not removing Fani Willis would undermine belief in legal system
A lawyer for one of Donald Trump’s co-defendants in the Georgia election interference case has argued that not removing Fani Willis, the Fulton county district attorney, would undermine public confidence in the legal system.
John Merchant, an attorney for Trump co-defendant Michael Roman, argued that just “an appearance of a conflict of interest” between Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade would be “sufficient” to disqualify her from the election subversion case.
Merchant told Judge Scott McAfee that “if the court allows this kind of behavior to go on ... the entire public confidence in the system will be shot”, AP reported.
If the judge denies the bid to disqualify Willis, “there’s a good chance” an appeals court would overturn that ruling and order a new trial, Merchant argued, it writes.
Updated
Judge Scott McAfee has said he might be able to make a decision on the hearing on Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis as he hears closing arguments in the case. CNN quotes him as saying:
I think we’ve reached the point where I’d like to hear more of how the legal argument apply to what has already been presented, and it may already be possible for me to make a decision without those needing to be material to that decision.
Closing arguments began about half an hour ago over whether Willis should be disqualified from handling the election interference against Trump because of her romantic relationship with a deputy handling the case.
Updated
Special counsel says holding Trump trial before election would not violate DoJ policy
Prosecutors from special counsel Jack Smith’s office have said that holding Donald Trump’s classified documents trial before the November presidential election would not violate the justice department’s policy against taking actions close to an election.
US district judge Aileen Cannon, at the Florida hearing on Thursday, raised the question of whether or not a delay in the trial start would be in violation of the Justice department’s “60 day rule” that prevents them from engaging in actions that could influence an election.
Special counsel prosecutor Jay Bratt told the judge a trial is permissible because the policy does not apply to post-indictments. “We are in full compliance with the justice manual,” Bratt said during the hearing.
As NBC News’ Garrett Haake writes, this means Trump’s federal trials could be ongoing during the election.
My colleague @KenDilanianNBC reports big news from documents scheduling hearing today is that DOJ says policy about not taking actions close to elections DOES NOT apply post-indictments (so, trials). That means federal Trump trials could be ongoing during fall campaign/voting
— Garrett Haake (@GarrettHaake) March 1, 2024
Updated
Prosecutors complained at the Florida hearing that Donald Trump’s proposed schedule was too slow, which drew a sharp response from Trump’s legal team who told the judge it was impossible for Trump to be on trial in New York for his hush money case and attend hearings at the same time in Florida.
The special counsel’s office, exasperated by the situation, at one point added “we want to keep the case moving along” – which drew an instant rebuke from Cannon who replied that while it may not be apparent to them, “there’s a lot of working getting done behind the scenes”.
Trump’s lawyers reiterated that they wanted Cannon to delay the classified documents trial until after the 2024 election in November, claiming once again that it was unfair to his presidential campaign and unfair to him personally because he could not be in courtrooms in New York and in Florida.
The issue with a July trial date, Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche said, was that Trump would be stuck in a Manhattan courtroom for roughly six weeks starting on 25 March when he faces charges that he falsified business records in hiding hush-money payments before the 2016 election.
Adopting prosecutors’ schedule, Blanche said, would make it impossible for Trump and his lawyers, some of whom are involved in both cases, to attend both the New York trial and major hearings as he is entitled as a defendant during that period before Cannon.
Updated
Judge expresses skepticism over prosecution's proposed timetable in Trump classified documents case
The federal judge overseeing Donald Trump’s criminal case over his retention of classified documents appeared inclined to reject a proposal by special counsel prosecutors that she set a schedule culminating in a July trial, saying at a court hearing Friday she found the timeline unworkable.
The US district judge Aileen Cannon did not set a new trial date from the bench – it is currently set for May but almost certain to be scrapped given repeated delays – and it was unclear whether she would adopt competing schedules proposed by Trump and prosecutors, or set her own.
But Cannon expressed particular reservation with the proposed timetable submitted by prosecutors, saying part of their schedule was “unrealistic”, and putting in doubt the probability she would move forward with proceedings that would mean Trump going to trial in July.
The skepticism from Cannon came as prosecutors and lawyers for Trump sparred over forthcoming deadlines, which could have profound implications for the scope and viability of not just the documents case but also for the federal 2020 election interference case in Washington.
In the afternoon part of the hearing, Judge Cannon is set to focus on a prosecutors’ request that she reconsider a ruling they said would allow Donald Trump to make public FBI documents produced during discovery public, revealing potential witnesses’ names.
Prosecutors argued Cannon applied the wrong legal standard when she allowed Trump to file exhibits without redactions. If Cannon did not reverse her decision, the filing said, prosecutors were prepared to appeal to force the reversal.
In the filing, prosecutors contended it was wrong for Cannon to require public identification of more than two dozen people who participated in the investigation, including some who may never testify at trial.
Prosecutors also asked Cannon to force Trump to file under seal the most sensitive exhibits he wanted to make public – such as transcripts of grand jury witness testimony, confidential FBI reports, non-public details of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence – and redact less sensitive exhibits.
US district judge Aileen Cannon’s main priority in the Florida hearing is expected to be setting a new trial date.
Whether Cannon would set a trial date in a ruling from the bench, or write an order later, was unclear. Also uncertain was whether Cannon would decide to adopt a schedule suggested by Trump that would culminate in an August trial, or a schedule suggested by prosecutors, culminating in a July trial.
“The one thing I think the parties agree on is that the case can be tried this summer,” said Jay Bratt, a prosecutor from Smith’s office, to Cannon in court, according to CNN. It added that Cannon replied that some aspects of prosecutors’ proposed schedule were “unrealistic”.
The judge was also reported to have said she would consider Trump’s other trials – including the one over hush-money payments to an adult film star who claimed an affair, which is due to start in New York this month – given his right to attend each in person.
Cannon previously indicated that the morning part of the hearing would address a request from Trump lawyers that prosecutors provide them with reams of additional information, which they believe will help mount a defense against the sweeping indictment. Trump is charged with violating the Espionage Act.
Updated
Court adjourns for lunch with no new trial date set
The morning session of the hearing in the classified documents case has ended, with the court adjourning for one hour for lunch.
Judge Aileen Cannon has not yet set a new trial date.
A group of pro-Israel House Democrats have written to Joe Biden backing “a temporary pause in fighting” between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Nearly 30 Democratic lawmakers, led by Brad Schneider and Jimmy Panetta, are urging the president to continue talks for a temporary pause in fighting to allow for a hostage release and provide aid for civilians in Gaza. The letter writes that:
A temporary pause in fighting will not only help release the hostages and give desperately needed relief to the millions of civilians displaced by this war, it can also open a path to permanently ending the conflict.
The letter is signed by mostly moderate, pro-Israel Democrats, about half of whom voted for the Republican-led Israel-only aid package that failed last month, according to Punchbowl News.
Schneider, a Democratic congressman for Illinois, told the outlet that he was motivated to organize the effort after Biden expressed cautious optimism that a temporary ceasefire and hostage release deal was imminent.
“The war could end tomorrow if Hamas would release the hostages,” Schneider said. “We need to find a path to get to peace and that’s what this letter talks about.”
Updated
Whether Judge Aileen Cannon will acquiesce to Donald Trump’s request for a later trial date remains uncertain.
Last year, she implicitly rejected Trump’s arguments concerning the election when she set a tentative trial date for May, finding a middle ground between the dueling schedules that Trump and prosecutors had proposed.
The judge could again attempt to find a middle ground as she weighs setting a new trial date, with the pre-trial phase of the documents case running roughly four months behind schedule, according to a Guardian analysis.
The documents case has been mired in delays as a result of how slowly Cannon has proceeded through the seven-step process laid out in the Classified Information Procedures Act, which governs how classified documents can be introduced at trial in Espionage Act cases.
Trump could have an advantage in trying to convince the judge to add further delays, after she expressed concern last year that Trump’s criminal cases in New York and Washington could “collide” with the documents case in Florida because they were scheduled to start between March and May.
But Trump’s legal calendar has shifted since Cannon made those remarks in November.
Trump’s first criminal case in New York, over hush-money payments made to the adult film star Stormy Daniels, will start on 25 March and is expected to last six weeks. Meanwhile, the 2020 election interference case in Washington is effectively delayed indefinitely until the US supreme court decides whether Trump has absolute immunity from prosecution.
In that sense, Trump’s legal calendar is now free of conflicts from May onwards, allowing Cannon to adopt either scheduling proposal from Trump or prosecutors, or again set a tentative trial start somewhere between the two suggested dates.
Lawyers for Donald Trump have reluctantly proposed two trial dates, under orders from the US district judge Aileen Cannon: a 12 August trial date for Trump and the Mar-a-Lago club maintenance chief Carlos De Oliveira, and a 9 September trial date for Trump’s valet Walt Nauta.
But Thursday’s nine-page court filing from Trump was clear in its tone and reasoning that a trial should not take place until 2025, claiming that prosecutors were seeking to rush to trial on an unprecedented schedule because they wanted an outcome before the presidential election in November.
Trump’s request marked his latest attempt to push back the case, having taken every opportunity to ask Cannon to delay proceedings since he was indicted last year for violating the Espionage Act and obstruction of justice.
In their first request to delay the trial indefinitely, Trump claimed he could not get a fair trial while he was running for office, asking the judge to also take into account the political calendar in the months before the election.
That argument was repeated again in the new filing, which also claimed that Trump’s status as the presumptive GOP nominee meant prosecutors would be violating justice department rules that prohibit overt investigative steps close to an election if a trial took place this year.
Updated
Trump's attorney argue July trial date is 'unfair'
Attorneys for Donald Trump have argued that the prosecution’s proposed trial start date of 8 July for the former president’s classified documents case is “unfair”.
Todd Blanche, at the pre-trial hearing in Florida, pushed for his client’s trial to take place after the 2024 presidential election, CNN reported. He is quoted as saying:
A trial that takes place before the election is a mistake and should not happen.
Trump’s legal team have proposed a 12 August trial date instead. Blanche said starting the trial any closer to the November election would be “more damaging” and “more harmful”, the report says.
He also argued that even without the election, “we still wouldn’t be ready for this trial” before November, adding:
There’s no reason this trial can’t start until late November.
The proposed July start date is “an impossibility for the defendant”, NBC quoted Trump’s defense attorneys as saying.
Updated
Judge says prosecution's trial schedule 'unrealistic'
The judge overseeing the criminal case over Donald Trump’s retention of classified documents has described the prosecution’s proposed schedule for getting to trial as “unrealistic”.
Federal prosecutors for special counsel Jack Smith have proposed a 8 July start date, while attorneys for Trump have suggested that he stand trial on 12 August.
Judge Aileen Cannon, at the pre-trial hearing in Florida, acknowledged Trump’s overlapping trial schedule and the fact that he is expected to be required to appear in New York for his criminal trial scheduled to begin 25 March, CNN reported. The outlet reported her saying:
That has to come into the equation, to some extent, on scheduling.
Updated
Greg Abbott, the hard-right governor of Texas, is “absolutely” on Donald Trump’s short list for vice-president should Trump as expected win the Republican nomination to face Joe Biden.
Calling Abbott a “spectacular man”, Trump told Sean Hannity of Fox News the three-term governor, an anti-immigration extremist, had “done a great job”, adding:
Yeah, certainly he would be somebody that I would very much consider.
“So he’s on the list?” Hannity said.
“Absolutely, he is,” Trump said, as Abbott listened.
Abbott has engineered showdowns with Democratic authorities, sending undocumented migrants to Democratic-run cities, and with the federal government, blocking border patrol access to the Rio Grande river at a common crossing point for migrants, then refusing to comply with orders to back off.
“He really stepped it up,” Trump said of Abbott on Thursday, during a visit to the spot in question, a park in Eagle Pass, part of a Texas trip the same day Biden visited the border elsewhere.
Abbott, Trump said, had “been amazing”.
Abbott, however, told CNN last week “there’s so many people other than myself who are best situated” to be Trump’s running mate, adding that he would help Trump pick. On Wednesday, Abbott told CBS he intended to run for a fourth term in Texas.
Jim McBride, a 49-year-old voter from Centreville, Virginia, attended Nikki Haley‘s rally in Falls Church to talk to voters about the need to support Ukraine amid its war against Russia.
McBride complimented Haley on her support of Ukraine aid, and he said rally attendees had been similarly receptive to his message as he handed out fliers saying, “What Would Reagan Do?”
Asked about how foreign affairs would be affected if Donald Trump became president again, McBride said:
He’s definitely not fighting for our national security interests. I hope he comes around. I guess I’ll leave the door open. But he really needs to condemn [Vladimir Putin] for the death of Alexei Navalny. He needs to speak out in support of Ukraine and show that he understands the value of Nato.
In her remarks, Haley again attacked Trump for deriding Nato and warned that his foreign policy platform could cause war to spread further, potentially endangering American troops.
Trump is going to side with Putin, who’s made no bones about the fact he wants to destroy America. And he’s going to side with him over our allies who stood with us after 9/11,” Haley said. “We have always got to grow the number of friends that we have. We’ve always got to focus on what it takes to prevent war. Every president should focus on preventing war.
Nikki Haley was interrupted by pro-ceasefire protesters six times last night, as she addressed supporters at a rally in Falls Church, Virginia.
Haley opened her remarks by warning that the event may be disrupted by protesters, and within two minutes of her taking the stage, one demonstrator started shouting to demand a ceasefire in Gaza.
Sixth interruption at the Haley rally in Falls Church, Virginia. The protester calls for a ceasefire in Gaza.
— Joan Greve (@joanegreve) March 1, 2024
“Blood is on your hands,” the protester yells at Haley as she is escorted out. pic.twitter.com/Zht7vKQALD
Others quickly followed suit, forcing Haley to repeatedly pause her speech as the protesters were escorted out. One of the protesters yelled at Haley, “Blood is on your hands!”
In her speech, Haley reiterated her call to provide more aid to Israel, despite the international outcry over the killing of more than 100 Palestinians near aid trucks on Thursday.
Virginia will head to the polls on Super Tuesday next week, when 15 states in total will hold their Republican primaries. Haley has not yet won a single state against Donald Trump, and it appears unlikely that she will be able to break her losing streak on Tuesday.
Another major Trump-related court hearing will take place later today in Georgia, where attorneys for the former president are trying to get the Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, thrown off the case she brought against them for allegedly tampering with the 2020 election result in the state. Here’s more about that, from the Guardian’s Sam Levine:
A Fulton county judge will hear closing arguments Friday afternoon in a three-day evidentiary hearing to determine whether district attorney Fani Willis should be disqualified from handling the election interference against Donald Trump because of her romantic relationship with a deputy handling the case.
The hearing has offered a dramatic deviation from the racketeering case against the former US president and 14 remaining co-defendants for trying to overturn the election in Georgia.
The matter kicked off in January when Michael Roman, a Republican operative and one of the defendants in the case, filed a motion claiming Willis financially benefitted from the case because of a romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, a top prosecutor in the case. Trump and several other defendants later joined the request.
Willis and Wade both admitted to a romantic relationship, but both said it only began after he was hired on 1 November 2021. They both testified about vacations they had taken together and revealed personal details about a romantic relationship that they say only began in 2022, after he was hired, and ended last summer.
A star witness who was supposed to undercut their claims ultimately failed to produce meaningful evidence.
Updated
As he typically does when he goes to court, Donald Trump arrived in a convoy of black SUVs, under police protection:
He made no attempt to interact with the public, but that didn’t stop a crowd from turning up outside.
Updated
Trump arrives at Florida courthouse for major hearing in classified documents case - report
Donald Trump has arrived at the federal courthouse in Fort Pierce, Florida, CNN reports, for what is expected to be a key hearing in his trial on charges related to allegedly taking classified documents from the White House and hiding them from investigators.
Judge Aileen Cannon is expected to hear arguments over when to hold the trial, and what evidence may be used. Special counsel Jack Smith has proposed an 8 July start date, while Trump’s attorneys want it to kick off on 12 August.
Another issue federal judge Aileen Cannon will consider today is what evidence is admitted at trial, which could prove crucial to whether or not Trump is convicted.
So says former US attorney Joyce Vance. She explains more here:
2/Decisions against the gov't on evidence aren't subject to review on appeal if a defendant is acquitted. Once a jury is sworn in, double jeopardy attaches & a defendant who is acquitted can't be retried. If a judge excludes essential evidence & the jury acquits, that's it.
— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) March 1, 2024
3/So if Judge Cannon were to give Trump his August trial date & the case actually goes to trial (2 big ifs) the case could come down to Cannon's calls on the evidence. It's a straightforward case for the gov't if it all comes in. Trump kept classified info & obstructed justice.
— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) March 1, 2024
4/If the Judge doesn't give the gov't a fair shake on the evidence, it could lead to an acquittal right as voters are preparing to go to the polls. The nuance of the judge's role in admitting evidence would be lost--all that would matter for Trump would be the acquittal.
— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) March 1, 2024
8 July or 12 August? Judge may decide Trump classified documents trial date after hearing today
Federal judge Aileen Cannon will today weigh competing requests from prosecutors and Donald Trump’s defense team over when to start his trial on charges of keeping and hiding classified documents.
Special counsel Jack Smith wants the proceedings to begin on 8 July:
BREAKING: Special Counsel asks Judge Cannon to schedule the Trump classified docs trial for July 8, 2024 pic.twitter.com/l6Q0I5GSgT
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) February 29, 2024
While Trump’s attorneys have asked that they start on 12 August. For his co-defendant, valet Walt Nauta, they are proposing 9 September:
Trump and Mar-a-Lago maintenance chief Carlos De Oliveira ask Judge Cannon to schedule their trial for August 12. Trump valet Walt Nauta asks Judge Cannon to schedule his trial for September 9 pic.twitter.com/4QCcZsxDl2
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) February 29, 2024
Updated
Florida federal judge to hold crucial hearing in Trump classified documents case
Good morning, US politics blog readers. It’s another big day of legal wrangling for Donald Trump, who is expected in Florida for a major hearing in the case against him for allegedly hoarding classified government documents. Among the issues federal judge Aileen Cannon is set to consider is when to hold the trial, with prosecutors proposing a July start date and Trump’s lawyers suggesting August. The bigger question is whether a jury will hand down a verdict in any of the former president’s four criminal cases before the November election. The odds of that happening grew longer earlier this week, when the supreme court further delayed Trump’s trial for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 election when it agreed to consider whether he was immune from prosecution. While it’s not clear when she will rule, we may get a sense of how Cannon is leaning on the trial date after the hearing opens at 10am ET.
Meanwhile, in Georgia, closing arguments will take place this afternoon in a bid by Trump and his co-defendants to boot Atlanta-area district attorney Fani Willis from the case she brought against him and 18 others for alleged conflicts of interest. We’ll let you know how that one is looking, too.
Here’s what else is going on:
Congress is busy negotiating behind closed doors on government spending, after yesterday passing short-term funding legislation to prevent a shutdown that would have started at midnight today.
A transcript of Hunter Biden’s interview with Congress was released, which mostly showed the president’s son denying that his father had anything to do with his business dealings.
The White House press briefing happens at 1.30pm.
