Trump’s legal fate decided in two courtrooms at the same time

Washington: As Donald Trump appeared in a Manhattan courtroom hoping to quash a trial involving hush money he allegedly paid to a porn star, a court in Atlanta considered whether to disqualify a district attorney trying to convict him for election interference.

With a US presidential election on the horizon, Trump spent Thursday morning (Friday AEST) unsuccessfully trying to dismiss charges accusing him of falsifying business records to silence an adult film star with whom he had an affair.

The Republican frontrunner was instead dealt a blow when Judge Juan Merchant scheduled the New York trial for March 25, paving the way for the first prosecution of a former American president.

But it is another trial he faces in Georgia that could end up being derailed, over allegations that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis had an improper relationship with the prosecutor who led the election subversion probe against the former president.

Six months after she indicted Trump for trying to overthrow the election results in her state, Willis and her former prosecutor boyfriend Nathan Wade now run the risk of being removed from the case.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Nathan Wade.

Such a ruling could end up severely delaying the most broad-ranging of the four criminal trials Trump faces – and one in which he could not pardon himself if he becomes president.

It all emerged after one of Trump’s co-defendants, Michael Roman, filed an explosive motion alleging that the case should be dismissed because Willis and Wade had been involved in an improper romantic relationship that began before Wade was hired.

According to the motion, Willis paid Wade more than $US650,000 in fees for his work, and then benefited personally when he paid for vacations for the two of them, thereby creating a conflict of interest.

After weeks of silence, the pair last week admitted that she has a relationship with Wade but argued that there was no financial or personal conflict of interest that constituted a legal basis for disqualification.

In an affidavit, Wade also claimed that their romantic relationship began in 2022 – after he was hired to help run Trump’s the election interference in november 2021.

However, this claim was contradicted by a “former good friend” of Willis, Robin Bryant-Yeartie, who testified on Thursday that she had “no doubt” the pair had a romantic relationship starting in 2019.

In the witness stand this morning, Wade stood by the timing of their relationship. Quizzed about holidays the couple took to places such as Belize, Aruba, Napa Valley, California and Tennessee, he insisted that the pair split their costs and that Willis often insisted on paying her own way with cash.

“If you’ve ever spent any time with Ms Willis, you understand that she’s a very independent, proud woman,” he said.

“So she’s going to insist that she carries her own weight. It actually was a point of contention between the two of us. She is going to pay her own way.”

Asked if he continued a personal relationship with Willis after that, he replied: “Are you asking me if I had intercourse with the district attorney?”

“We’re very good friends. Probably closer than ever because of these attacks. But if you’re asking me about specific intercourse, the answer is no.”

The televised hearing – which is expected to last for two days – was another sign of an extraordinary election that will play out as much in the courtroom as it will on the campaign trail.

The Georgia trial accuses the US president and 18 allies in connection with an alleged “criminal enterprise” designed to overturn the result to stop Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.

But if Trump and his co-defendants succeed in disqualifying Willis, some fear it could derail the entire case, which still doesn’t have a trial date.

Meanwhile, in Manhattan, the hush money case will take place next month and take up to six weeks, becoming the first criminal trial Trump faces.

The former president’s lawyers had sought to delay the trial at today’s hearing, arguing that it would unfairly intervene with the former president’s quest to return to the White House.

Trump reiterated this as he entered the courtroom, telling reporters: “I’m running for election – how can you run for election when you’re sitting in a courthouse in Manhattan all day long?”

The New York case accuses Trump of orchestrating a scheme to pay hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels to suppress damaging sexual allegations on the eve of the 2016 election.

The former president has denied all the allegations against him. The hearings continue.

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