Hearings on Trump's criminal cases in New York and Georgia

Former President Donald Trump criticized the criminal hush money case against him as he entered court ahead of a hearing.

“This is not a crime,” he said in the courthouse hallway Thursday. 

“This is just a way of hurting me in the election because I’m leading by a lot, leading by numbers that nobody’s ever seen before,” the GOP frontrunner added, despite polls showing a close potential race between him and President Joe Biden.

“We want delays, obviously I’m running for election,” he said, adding he’d rather spend his time campaigning than in courtrooms, previewing a bit of what will be argued in court.

Trump has entered the courtroom where a hearing will soon be underway in the New York hush money criminal case brought by the Manhattan district attorney. 

District Attorney Alvin Bragg entered earlier and is seated in the courtroom. 

The evidentiary hearing on whether District Attorney Fani Willis should be disqualified from her election subversion case against former President Donald Trump and his allies is beginning in Fulton County.

Judge Scott McAfee will consider allegations that Willis and her top prosecutor, Nathan Wade, engaged in a romantic relationship and that Wade, using the money he earned from the case, paid for vacations with Willis.

Defendant Mike Roman’s attorney, Ashleigh Merchant, originally brought the allegations against Willis and Wade and is expected to lead the case against the district attorney on Thursday and Friday.

Merchant told CNN she intends to call Wade to the stand first. Others could be called to discuss what they know about the relationship, which Wade and Willis have admitted existed but have denied any financial benefit to Willis.

District Attorney Anna Cross is expected to helm the case pushing back against Merchant’s claims.

Two cases that could defy Donald Trump’s capacity to thwart prosecutions and even to overturn eventual convictions against him if he returns to the White House reach critical tests on Thursday with major implications for the 2024 election.

Most of Trump’s legal filings in various cases have one thing in common: an attempt to prevent them from moving to trial and to delay accountability — at least until the next election.

The high-stakes hearings nearly 900 miles apart speak to the extraordinary entanglement of the 2024 election and Trump’s legal quagmire that now spans multiple presidential elections.

The legal and political collision that seems to become more intense with every passing week makes it all but certain the current election will sow divisive, long-term aftereffects however Trump’s legal perils end that will deepen the country’s political estrangement and further damage trust in electoral and judicial institutions.

Read Collinson's full analysis of two high-stakes Trump hearings that are taking place nearly 900 miles apart.

A hearing that could derail the election subversion case against Donald Trump and others in Georgia is set for Thursday and Friday as a judge considers whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should be disqualified.

Here's what to watch for today:

The allegations against Wade and Willis: The alleged affair was first raised by Trump’s co-defendant, former 2020 campaign official Mike Roman, last month in a court filing accusing Willis of financially benefiting from selecting Wade when he took her on lavish vacations, paid partly with what he billed her office for work on the case. Willis appointed Wade special prosecutor to assist in the investigation in 2021.

A "star" witness and nearly a dozen subpoenas: Roman's attorney, Ashleigh Merchant has subpoenaed nearly a dozen others to testify during Thursday’s hearing, including DA employees and Willis herself. Judge Scott McAfee said that he will allow Merchant – who represents Roman – to question her “star” witness and Wade’s former law partner, Terrence Bradley, on Thursday.

What if Willis is disqualified? If McAfee decides to grant the co-defendants’ motions and remove Willis from prosecuting the sprawling RICO case, under Georgia law the case would automatically be re-assigned to the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, a bipartisan collaboration of six district attorneys and three solicitors general from across the state. The council’s executive director would be responsible for either appointing a new district attorney from a separate county to oversee the case or a private lawyer, attorney general, or one of the members of the council.

Read more about what to look out for ahead of the Fulton County DA misconduct hearing.

New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan and Donald Trump are no strangers.

Merchan previously sentenced Trump’s close confidant Allen Weisselberg to prison, presided over the Trump Organization tax fraud trial, and oversaw former adviser Steve Bannon’s criminal fraud case.

Trump has derided Merchan as a "Trump-hating judge" and has taken aim at his family, including the judge's daughter, whose political consulting firm did work for the Joe Biden campaign and now-Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign.

Merchan rejected a Trump attempt to remove him from the trial over $35 worth of political donations to Biden in 2020.

In the courthouse, Merchan is well-regarded, attorneys who have appeared before him told CNN, and he’s known to maintain control of his courtroom even when his cases draw considerable attention.

There are over a dozen people who could testify in the hearing that's expected to last two days in Atlanta.

Fani Willis and Nathan Wade are the headliners, but the attorney for the defendant seeking to remove the district attorney calls lawyer Terrence Bradley her "star witness."

Here's the list:

In Fulton County, all eyes are on Judge Scott McAfee, the state judge who's celebrating his one-year anniversary on the bench this month.

McAfee, faced with a racketeering case that involves the former president and originally 18 other defendants, has moved relatively quickly and has stepped in to move hearings along when warranted — something he said he would do on Thursday if necessary.

McAfee has been clear that the hearing will be limited in scope, noting that not all of the issues raised by defense attorneys over Wade and Willis are relevant.

McAfee was clear that Thursday’s hearing would be limited in scope, noting that not all of the issues raised by defense attorneys over Wade and Willis are relevant.

McAfee's standard, he said Monday, is more than just the fact that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and prosecutor Nathan Wade had a relationship.

All of McAfee's hearings are live on camera, but he has not shown a desire to be part of the story or spar with lawyers or defendants.

Donald Trump was charged in March 2023 by the Manhattan district attorney with falsifying business records to commit or conceal another crime.

Prosecutors allege that the former president engaged in a cover-up scheme to hide reimbursement payments made to his former attorney, Michael Cohen, who had paid hush money to adult-film star Stormy Daniels to stop her from going public about a past affair with Trump before the 2016 presidential election.

Trump pleaded not guilty to the 34 charges and denied the affair.

Last year, Trump filed a motion to dismiss the indictment on a number of grounds, including alleging it was brought six years after the alleged cover-up in an effort to interfere with the 2024 presidential election.

Read more about the key evidence and charges in the hush money case.

Former President Donald Trump’s motorcade has arrived at the Manhattan criminal court where he is expected to attend a hearing in the New York hush money criminal case.

The off-camera hearing is expected to start at 9:30 a.m. ET.

Meanwhile, there is a dueling hearing in his Georgia election subversion case beginning at the same time.