Key Trump allies dictated about Arizona ‘fake electors’ as ex-president heads back to court: Live

Manhattan prosecutors reveal election crime driving Trump’s hush money case

A critical question hovering over Donald Trump’s criminal case in New York is whether prosecutors can convince a jury that the former president’s alleged falsification of business records are tied to a “primary” crime.

Trump has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records, which – on their own – are misdemeanor offenses.

But Manhattan prosecutors have elevated those charges to felonies by tying them to another offense – one that involves a conspiracy to manipulate an election.

Prosecutors began outlining those “other” crimes in court filings one month after Mr Trump was sentenced last year. Justice Juan Merchan allowed them to move forward on three of them.

On Tuesday, prosecutors introduced one in court, suggesting that Trump falsified those business records with the intent to commit or conceal a conspiracy to “promote” his election through “unlawful means”.

More on the prosecution’s strategy here:

In April 2020, then-President Donald Trump suggested that Covid-19 could be treated with a “disinfectant” by “injection or almost a cleaning” inside the body.

“I see the disinfectant that knocks it out in a minute, one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside or almost a cleaning? As you see, it gets in the lungs, it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it would be interesting to check that,” he said from the White House at the time.

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden ridiculed his remarks during a campaign speech to union leaders.

“Remember when he was trying to deal with Covid and he said ‘just inject a little bleach in your vein?’ He missed. It all went to his hair,” he said.

“I shouldn’t have said that,” he said to applause and laughter. “You guys are a bad influence on me.”

Donald Trump’s lawyers are back in Georgia with a motion that calls on the judge overseeing his election interference case to drop two of the charges against him.

Two of the counts against him involve the filing of false documents, which Trump’s attorneys claim can only be filed at the federal level – not in state court.

“The alleged conduct which the state is attempting to prosecute in counts 15 and 27 is addressed by the federal false statement statute and thus jurisdiction is exclusively vested in federal court,” attorney Steve Sadow wrote on Wednesday.

“As such, the state is without jurisdiction or authority to prosecute President Trump when the plain purpose of doing so is to protect the integrity of federal matters,” he added. “The statute at issue here reaches too far and may not be applied to criminalize the conduct alleged in counts 15 and 27. Those counts must be dismissed.”

Michael Cohen is both a crucial witness for the prosecution in Donald Trump’s criminal trial in New York and a frequent target of the former president, who is accused of repeatedly violating a trial gag order that blocks him from attacking witnesses.

On Wednesday, one day after a hearing on Trump’s alleged gag order violations, Cohen agreed to gag himself.

“Despite not being the gagged defendant, out of respect for Judge Merchan and the prosecutors, I will cease posting anything about Donald on my X (formerly Twitter) account or on the Mea Culpa Podcast until after my trial testimony,” he wrote.

“See you all in a month (or more).”

In what is setting up to be a landmark ruling from the nation’s highest court, the nine justices will determine if Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results by making false claims of election fraud, allegedly trying to install fake electors and pressuring former vice President Mike Pence to decertify election results were part of his “official acts” as president, and if those are protected from criminal prosecution.

Ariana Baio answers your questions about the historical case before the courton Thursday:

A grand jury indicted 11 Arizona Republicans and seven others for their role in an alleged scheme to keep Donald Trump in the White House by falsely certifying the state’s 2020 election results as a Trump win.

The indictments accuse the group of trying to prevent “the lawful transfer of the presidency of the United States, keeping President Donald J. Trump in office against the will of Arizona voters, and depriving Arizona voters of their right to vote and have their votes counted .”

“We conducted a thorough and professional investigation over the past 13 months into the fake electors scheme in our state,” Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said in a video on Wednesday announcing the charges. “I understand for some of you today didn’t come fast enough. And I know I’ll be criticized by others for conducting this investigation at all. But as I’ve stated before, and we’ll say here again, today, I will not allow American democracy to be undermined.”

New York Justice Juan Merchan has denied a motion from Donald Trump’s attorneys to subpoena adult film star Stormy Daniels for materials related to her documentary – as well as his lawyer’s demands for communications from Michael Cohen and others.

In an order on Tuesday, Judge Merchan called the requests “overbroad” and outside the bounds of the case at hand.

A request for “all documents relating to communications” with “Michael Cohen or his representatives; Karen McDougal; E Jean Caroll; Jessica Leeds; or Natasha Stoynoff” also was rejected as “overbroad” and “not limited to the subject matter” of the hush money case.

A state grand jury in Arizona has returned indictments against Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows and 11 so-called “fake electors” as part of an ongoing investigation into a failed scheme to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.

One month after the election, 11 Trump-supporting Republicans convened at the state’s GOP headquarters in Phoenix to sign certificates claiming the state’s electoral college votes.

Rudy Giuliani appears to be among the defendants, though his name is redacted. He is described as a person “often identified as ‘the Mayor’” who “spread false claims of election fraud in Arizona and nationally shortly after November 3, 2020.”

The grand jury indictment includes former state GOP chair Kelli Ward as well as Tyler Bowyer, Nancy Cottle, Jacob Hoffman, Anthony Kern, James Lamon, Robert Montgomery, Samuel Moorhead, Lorraine Pellegrino, Gregory Safsten, and Michael Ward.

At least four Trump allied attorneys also were dictated, as well as chief of staff Mark Meadows, whose name is also redacted.

The charges include fraud, forgery, and conspiracy.

Trump also is listed as an unindicted coconspirator, though his name also is redacted.

In his remarks during a campaign event to the North America’s Building Trade Union National Legislative Conference in Washington, President Joe Biden said of his rival Donald Trump: “The guy has never worked a day in the working man’s boots”

“He learned that telling people you’re fired was something to laugh about,” the president told the group of union workers and organizers.

“Not my household, not my neighborhood,” he added. “I guess that’s how you look at the world from Mar-a-Lago where Trump and his rich friends embrace the same failed trickle-down policies that have failed working class families and union families for over 40 years.”

Whether Donald Trump has immunity from criminal prosecution will be debated by US Supreme Court justices on Thursday, and both the former president and special counsel Jack Smith have cited court cases involving former president Richard Nixon to make their points.

But the two sides are using the Nixon cases to push opposing arguments.

Ariana Baio has more on the historic case before the nation’s highest court: