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.
Key events
Joan E Greve
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.
Joan E Greve
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.
“Blood is on your hands,” the protester yells at Haley as she is escorted out. pic.twitter.com/Zht7vKQALD
— Joan Greve (@joanegreve) March 1, 2024
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.
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.
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
Hugo Lowell
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:
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
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:
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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.
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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.
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The White House press briefing happens at 1.30pm.