Judge to hold hearing in Trump classified documents case: Live updates

The prosecutor who brought charges against Trump in Georgia sailed to victory in her Democratic primary re-election race on Tuesday night – and celebrated with a signature glass of Grey Goose vodka.

Willis, the district attorney for Fulton County, had been the favorite in the race against her opponent Christian Wise Smith, who she also defeated in 2020.

In a landslide victory, she took more than 80 per cent of all Democratic votes.

Now, she will face off against Republican candidate Courtney Kramer during the general election in November.

In her victory speech, Willis thanked supporters saying: “They want a district attorney that believes everyone deserves to be safe and everyone is entitled to some dignity.”

Alex Woodward and Ariana Baio have been covering Trump’s hush money trial for The Independent every single day since Judge Merchan first gavelled proceedings open on Monday 15 April.

For the past month, they’ve endured long lines and all kinds of weather to bring you live coverage and analysis from inside the courthouse.

As the trial finally draws to a close, you can find them on Reddit from 12pm ET taking your questions on all aspects of the last five weeks.

From the blockbuster testimony of Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen to Trump sleeping at the bench, ask them anything!

Ex-New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani has pleaded not guilty to election interference charges in Arizona after being served court papers at his 80th birthday party.

Giuliani, former personal attorney to Donald Trump, faces nine felony charges for his alleged role in a 2020 presidential election interference plot.

The former mayor has been charged alongside 17 others in the scheme.

He appeared virtually at his arraignment on Tuesday in Phoenix, Arizona, where he was required to post a $10,000 bond. His trial will begin in October.

Katie Hawkinson has the details.

Judge Aileen Cannon, presiding over Trump’s classified documents case in Florida, will hold her first hearing with prosecutors and defense lawyers on Wednesday since indefinitely postponing the trial earlier this month.

Judge Cannon will hear arguments regarding Trump’s request to dismiss the indictment brought against him by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith on the basis that it fails to clearly articulate a crime and instead amounts to “a personal and political attack against President Trump” with a “litany of uncharged grievances both for public and media consumption”.

Prosecutors on Smith’s team will argue against that request.

The case had been set for trial on 20 May but Judge Cannon cited numerous issues she has yet to resolve as the basis for cancelling it, with no further indication as to when it may be ready to start.

Trump himself is not expected to be present for the hearing, which will begin at 10am ET in Fort Pierce, but the motion filed by his lawyers is just one of several they have submitted seeking to dismiss the case, some of which have already been denied.

Also scheduled for Wednesday are arguments by a Trump co-defendant, his valet Walt Nauta, to dismiss the charges against him.

The arguments come one day after a newly-unsealed motion revealed that defense lawyers are seeking to exclude evidence from the boxes of records that FBI agents seized during a search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach in August 2022.

The defense lawyers asserted in the motion that the raid was unconstitutional and “illegal” and the FBI affidavit filed in justification of it was tainted by misrepresentations.

Smith’s team rejected each of those accusations and defended the investigative approach as “measured” and “graduated”.

It said the search warrant was obtained after investigators collected surveillance footage showing what it said was a concerted effort to conceal the boxes of classified documents inside the property.

“The warrant was supported by a detailed affidavit that established probable cause and did not omit any material information,” prosecutors wrote.

“And the warrant provided ample guidance to the FBI agents who conducted the search. Trump identifies no plausible basis to suppress the fruits of that search.”

The defence motion was filed in February but was made public on Tuesday, along with hundreds of pages of documents from the investigation that were filed to the case docket in Florida.

Those include a previously-sealed opinion last year from the then-chief judge of the federal court in Washington, which said that Trump’s lawyers, months after the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago, had turned over four additional documents with classification markings that were found in Trump’s bedroom.

The March 2023 opinion from US district judge Beryl Howell directed a former lead lawyer for Trump in the case to abide by a grand jury subpoena and to turn over materials to investigators, rejecting defence arguments that their cooperation was prohibited by attorney-client privilege and concluding that prosecutors had made a “prima facie” showing that Trump had committed a crime.

Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee for 2024, has pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing.

The former president has said he is “looking at” policy that may restrict access to contraception in some states and promised a “very comprehensive policy” on the issue shortly.

Trump was asked during an interview in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, if he was in favour of restrictions on an individual’s right to contraception. He did not rule out the possibility.

“We’re looking at that, and I’m going to have a policy on that very shortly and I think it’s something that you’ll find interesting,” he said, adding that it would be released “within a week or so”.

“You will find it, I think, very smart. It’s a very smart decision,” the Republican beamed.

However, shortly after reporting of his remarks circulated in the media, Trump furiously back-peddled, posting a typically capitalised message to his Truth Social platform denying the claims – which he described as a “Democrat fabricated lie”.

Here’s Mike Bedigan to unpack it all.

Trump’s aversion to answering tough questions about abortion may now be impacting his search for a running mate.

Puck News reported on Tuesday that the former president and his team are actively considering the effect a Republican hailing from a state with restrictive abortion laws could have for his electoral chances — and they’re assuming the worst.

Trump’s team is apparently worried that choosing a prospective veep from such a state would open the candidate up to uncomfortable questions about the issue, even as he has sought to dodge the political blowback from moderates by refusing to endorse a national ban.

Joe Biden’s campaign has raised less cash than the Donald Trump campaign for the first time as the two 2020 rivals prepare to face off again this November.

Last month, the Biden campaign raised more than $51m, far below the $90m haul it took in in March, it revealed in its latest filings.

The haul was also significantly lower than the $76m raised by his rival, after the former president boosted his effort with the Republican National Committee and attended a string of major fundraisers.

But Democrats still lead Republicans in overall cash and Biden himself has significantly more cash than Trump.

The Republican’s campaign is reportedly hoping to build up a “crypto army” in advance of Election Day.

Trump’s jailed former trade adviser Peter Navarro has warned of “mass deportations” should his former boss return to the White House during an interview conducted from inside prison.

Navarro, 74, is serving a four-month sentence at the low-security FCI Miami prison in Florida after he was convicted on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress.

He was charged in 2022 after he refused to provide testimony or documentary evidence when requested by the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.

In the new interview, Navarro conducted from behind bars via email with Semafor, he gave his predictions on the “unfinished business” that would be back on the table, should Trump regain the presidency in November.

Alina Habba led the charge of the brainwashers working to ensure viewers of the conservative news channel are not tempted into thinking for themselves about the hush money affair.

“Gym” Jordan was also out there doing the devil’s work none too persuasively.

Meanwhile, over on CNN, Kaitlan Collins challenged Senator James Lankford on voting against his own border bill under the influence of Trump.