. >> she brought charges against trump and 18 others in georgia. now she has important questions to answer on the on laura coates live. >> the case against trump involves a dozen co-defendants and sweeping racketeering charges known as rico. let's call it a wrinkle. it could make this case a lot messier. it relates to fulton county district attorney willis a prosecutor she brought in nathan wade and whether there was a conflict of interest that would affect the underlying charges. wade's estranged wife is allegedly willis had an affair with her husband and says she has receipts to back it is up. there are new records released

in the divorce proceedings, including copies of credit card statements that show wade purchased airline tickets for him search and willis and destination apparently miami in october 2022 and san francisco in april 2023. now all this has blown up after mike roman a defendant in the georgia case moved to now disqualify fannie willis over the alleged relationship claiming it began before willis hired wade to manage the case. he didn't provide proof and to be clear there's still a lot we need to learn. for her part willis says nothing to see here. in a court filing she accused wade's wife. is willis has been openly

defending wade in her other appointed counselors even though she hasn't directly addressed the allegations. >> all three of these special counselors are superstars. but i'm just asking is it that something has never seen a black man who is qualified no matter his achievement? month what more can one achieve? the other two have never been judges but no one questioned their credentials. >> tonight all this is getting more complex if you can believe it. fulton county commissioner launching an investigation into allegations that willis misused county funds and took gifts or other personal benefits from wade. there are potentially huge implications here. will willis or wade lose their jobs in who would replace them if that were the case and is the case itself in jeopardy? frankly what does this mean for trump and the other

co-defendants? it may not take too long for to us learn the answer because the judge overseeing this georgia case has set a february 15th hearing to consider whether willis and wade should be disqualified. i want to dig right into this because it's such an important conversation with former attorney tim, attorney seth and tia mitchell for the atlanta journal constitution. just going through what i've described messy. reads a bit like a housewives episode of some kind. yet all of it's going on is deeply interesting for so many reasons because it could actually mean that this very important trial in georgia will be viewed through a lens that they don't intend it to be. let me begin with you tim on this issue because look. we don't get to know what her response is to the allegation she's not directly addressed

them but when you hear this at first blush what do you think of? is this really tied to the facts of the case or really about a soap opera? >> you know it doesn't really have any bearing on the specific allegations in the capes and they haven't really tied it to impropriety in bringing the indictment. so whenever you bring a prosecutorial misconduct proposal and you ask for dismissal or disqualification and case like this i sigh disqualification a strong argument dismissal not so much because in misconduct if proven which sounds like it's going to be conceded. >> we don't know that. >> it is something that ends up putting their personal interests tied to the case and so therefore judges do frequently disqualify. i've that had myself in previous cases so they would be out.

the fulton county district attorney's office would be out because she's head of that office and another office would possibly come in possibly on the attorney general of another county which could take a different view of the case. >> let me ask this. if it's not implicating the underlying facts of the case is it the on particulars don't look good and jury pool might raise an eyebrow? you have to wonder if these allegations don't go to the heart of the matter. the disqualification suggests that judgment is impaired here. what is the issue? >> the issue at hand is whether this codefendant in the rico case can use the dirty laundry from this incredibly messy and high level divorce to soil the rico case in a way for him to tell the court this is us is an infected corrupted process they should be thrown out this case should be thrown out and

everything should be turned upside down and while i absolutely agree in the court of public opinion this is really a hot mess and i don't know what she was thinking, her brief on this issue is due february 2nd so we have to wait reserving that judgment to the hearing of february 15 but regardless what happens in the court of public opinion i really think in a court of law it's going difficult for this codefendant to say that this messy laundry in a divorce case is something that can disqualify these folks or certainly to have to have this case dismissed in a rico action. >> i'm wondering how this is playing out locally. from the set back of a national perspective maybe it looks some way but is it perceived the same way locally? >> i think people are still processing. i had a friend of mine call me and say break it down why does this matter why does willis personal life have any reflection on this rico case so

i think regular folks some of it might depend on your personal leanings if you're ready we're not a fan of the rico case you already weren't a fan of the district attorney for you this is proof of politicization of the issue this is proof that maybe she isn't as sharp or as prepared and maybe this is all about personal vendetta but if you are inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt if you do think that trump should be held accountable maybe you're looking at it why does again something that's personal in her something that's messy in her personal life why does it have any bearing on this case so quite frankly what's playing out nationally and locally and again willis has not directly answered the core question as to whether she does have an intimate personal relationship with her special prosecutor so in the absence of kind of where that actually stands a lot of this is

just rumor and innuendo. >> interesting there's irony i can't get out my head the idea of so many people everybody angered about a lot of due process relating to donald trump or co-defendants the idea a political witch hunt under lies all of it and there's an eagerness in our society to get answer immediately and we try to by pass that because we want the answers now and she said i speak for it but there is something about the jury pool and i always go there as trial attorney and think what do i want the jury to be thinking about when i'm standing before them. what message do i want to send, how do i want their mind to be focused and you have to wonder about how this will play for a jury to look and see is this person here fairly, are they qualified or something else, does it cast doubt on it and is that worth it. >> as a prosecutor you really

want to be able to have a higher moral position. and -- >> morality for lawyers. [laughter] >> okay. >> it is one of those things where especially if you're going to bring a case of this magnitude you have to hold the high moral ground and when you seed that, assuming these allegations are proovsh i think it will significantly impact her credibility. as far as for example nathan wade he's kind of a different story herety dealt with him very briefly, took me 20 seconds to realize he was not competent to handle this case. >> why do you say that? >> just he doesn't understand basic criminal principles. >> i'm sure he would take issue with that. right? obviously you're connected at counsel. i don't know him personally. >> right. he didn't understand the fifth amendment is something that operates for witnesses to invoke

when they are accused of being a con conspirator, so simple things like that he didn't understand and that he can get a judge to simply order it. >> so on that excuse me, but. >> well be careful what you wish for. this everybody allegations he's a lightweight but if you're a criminal defendant i don't know why you would want to disqualify him. he has also been a judge and there have been elements of his resume that balance in the other direction so reasonable people can differ but really this has become a weapon of mass distraction for mr. trump and the co-defendants. it's also going to be open question whether there will get to jury because they will absolutely file a motion to preclude this admission to say that it is not probative, it's prejudicial, it's very, very distracting so it's very much open question whether it comes in but i think we are all in

agreement this is an incredibly bad look and we'll see what she files february 2nd but it raises heightened suspicions. >> if it what a man who were the lead d.a. having these allegations, would it be viewed differently? i don't know the answers to that. would the qualifications be treated differently based? i don't know the answers to that but i know has a trial prosecutor you want the jury focused on the case. you want the jury focused on these defendants and what you can prove in court, and i do wonder, in the same way the defendants believe this to be a politically motivated witch hunt against them i could easily see a jury population say ha, pot calling the kettle black. hit job. >> and willis on sunday raised an issue of racism and whether

that's playing any role in this because there are three special prosecutors she pointed out the one receiving the criticism as the one who is not qualified as being black and she's mentioned being a woman in this role and things like that. i think again people will agree or disagree depending on i think where they naturally already arrive at the case. >> kind of a rohrshach test. >> absolutely, but i do think that willis has made decisions that maybe ultimately she's still an elected official. she's still a politician that has to deal with the realities of public perception of her own career legacy and job and i don't node if some of the decisions she's made in the last couple weeks have served her well. i get that she wants to let this play out in court. she's kind of saying you know i'm going to speak through the filings. that's speaking like an attorney. that's not necessarily speaking like a politician.

i think the politician in her probably should have addressed this more clearly and more head on because now we've had overtwo weeks of speculation. >> we have all talked about the discussion about those who are elected prosecutors and those who are not and how this can really muddy the waters for a lot of reasons. really fascinating. thank you both. of course, double edge sword we think the lady doth protest too much. shakespeare. it was a case that gripped the entire nation, the murder trial of scott peterson convicted of kill his wife and unborn child so why is the los angeles innocence project taking a look at what happened two decades later we will explain in just a moment.

>> it was a notorious murder case, scott peterson convicted and sentenced to death in 2005 for the killing of his nearly 8 months pregnant wife and their newborn son n. a shocking development the los angeles innocence project is taking up his case looking at newly discovered evidence saying it's investigating his claim of actual innocence. let me back up for a second. take a minute to remember how all this unfolded. his 27-year-old lacey disappeared on christmas eve in 2002. a short time later police discovered that peterson was having and affair with a massage therapist named amber. when the bodies of his wife and

child washed up in san francisco bay police charged him with murder. when arrested 30 miles from the mexico border peterson was carrying nearly $10,000 in cash, multiple cell phones his brothers i.d. card and he had dyed his hair. he pled not guilty and maintained his full innocence. hi death penalty was overturned in 2020 and a court reaffirmed his conviction in 2021 with a life sentence and no possibility for parole. in 2023 his attorneys filed a petition claiming actual innocence supported by newly discovered evidence. now the innocence project is involved. the organization's mission statement says, quote.

its director saying: >> joining me michael, a juror in scott peterson's trial. thanks so much for joining us. when most people saw this headline they had to first go back 20 years and think about all that transpired during that trial when he has been in prison now for more than 20 years, were you a juror. how are you feeling about the news that there are claims by his new counsel he could be potentially be innocent? >> well, good evening. yes, i don't feel bad about anything we've done. we made a decision based on the evidence and testimony that was available at the time. now, apparently there may be

some new evidence and yeah, i think it's nice that we have an organization like that group that is able to do these sort of things. justice denied is no justice. >> a really important point talking about the context as we ask our jurors the evidence coming before them to consider that and weigh as you pondered and deliberate a verdict. at the time i remember sharon rocha said . you know, when you look at that

and hear that as obviously a heartbreaking statement by a mother who lost her daughter and grandchild, what was it about the evidence that came in that made you believe that he in fact was guilty? >> well, it took a while. but you know, the issue of determining scott peterson's guilt was not one issue. it was several issues. and it was a case in which it was there wasn't a lot of physical evidence. a lot of circumstanceal evidence and it was like a puzzle. you know you had to listen and pay close attention to the testimony and so many other things with respect to recordings and what have you, to form an opinion and then sit down with the rest of the jurors

and deliberate on that. to cover what makes sense, what is the logic and reasoning of whatever actions or statements or what have you were. and come to a final decision and that's what we did. we worked very hard, very hard, and it was you know, it was stressful. but in the end, i am of the firm belief that we made the right decision because we made the decision based on truth, based on fact and there can only be one truth in fact. now, when we look back at that i think that's exactly how juries ought to proceed. and it's a situation where scott is guilty until proven innocent. now before it was innocent until

proven guilty. the prosecution suceeded at that. now he's guilty with me until proven innocent. not everybody feels that way, i understand and if there's new evidence and if in fact the new evidence proves he actually didn't kill his wife, well then, much to you know bad, has occurred to scott peterson. >> well i tell you i remember that trial lasting 5 and a half months and deliberations and everybody wondering what would happen in this trial. i should note for the audience they are at the innocence project requesting dna testing for duct tape found on lacey peterson's pants, connor peterson's remains a target bag and duct tape from that bag all which would have played an interesting part of a trial.

michael thank you so much for being here today helping to us better understand the jury process today in america. thank you. >> bye-bye. >> coming up cnn's presentation of hbo's overtime wiwith bill maher.

get over here kids. time for today's lesson. wow. -whoa. what are those? these are humans. they rely on something called the internet to survive. huh, powers out. [ gasp ] are they gonna to die? worse, they are gonna get bored. [ gasp ] wait look! they figured out a way to keep the internet on. yeah! -nature finds a way. [ grunt ] stay connected when the power goes out, with storm ready wifi from xfinity.

and see migration in theaters now. here's why you should switch fo to duckduckgo on all your devie duckduckgo comes with a built-n engine like google, but it's pi and doesn't spy on your searchs and duckduckgo lets you browse like chrome, but it blocks cooi and creepy ads that follow youa from google and other companie. and there's no catch. it's fre. we make money from ads, but they don't follow you aroud join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on all your devices today. >> now let's turn it is over to our friends at hbo because every friday bill maher and his crew answer questions about questions of conversation and here is

overtime with bill maher. >> great to be back on cnn. happy new year. the guy who host msnbc weekly news writer andrew sullivan. okay. all right. rari what do you make of the study that half of inflation in the u.s. is due to high corporate profits? what impact does greed have on our economy. so there was a legitimate reason why prices rose for a while but use that as excuse to raise the prices and now that stuff is coming down some of the price don't come down too because the profits are a fact. >> the price-gouging is documenting. they brag about it earnings on wall street there. are places that make it harder. here it's legal but out rage us.

at the time they're giving themselves big pay raises in the boardroom too. >> here is my question. what do you do about it. i remember two things we talked about jawbones. presidents did it by the power of presidential coercion. they got people in the over office and said you're doing bad for the country and sometimes that worked. nixon as i recall, maybe i got this wrong but i think he had price controls. that's something very foreign. even i barely remember that. >> they don't work in the long run. but the best way to bring prices down is competition. so if these companies if there's a cartel involved in keeping prices high when they should be going down the cartel meets to be broken up. i don't know who wrote the study. i don't know. it's not like inflation hasn't been explained by a variety of

factors. the supply side stuff con strains the supply of goods. then you have the overspending of the biden stimulus. it resulted in inflation. >> everybody got together. >> so what's interesting is now, high prices are of food, right? >> yes. is it food corporations bragging about this? >> yeah, they are in earnings. they don't think they're going to get burned. they're doing it on diaper sales. the three main companies do it on a national basis then no. >> there are certain products you can't live without. i'm sure if someone needs diapers they're at the beginning or end of life. [laughter] [applause]

>> i hear people gripe about plumbing. they charge arm and leg. have you ever needed a plumber? if plumbers only knew what we would pay them. >> yeah. >> when it's coming up. okay. andrew. what are your thoughts about the pope's recent deck lairgs that sexual pleasure is a gift from god. thanks big man but that pornography must be aborted. i'm kidding. >> he's stating catholic doctrine. we're not supposed to hate our sexual pleasure. this is not the case with protestants. the catholics, i first realized i had this between my legs and i never really could understand it as a sin.

something so natural, why would god be punishing you for it and i was very devout. i decided that's obviously not true the way i decided the virgin mary wasn't a sended to heaven. >> i remember when i was first masturbating and didn't know what it was and remember thinking is this bad for me. then like naah. i seemed like this doesn't seem right. >> there was no point.

i used to honestly draw the dudes i wanted to have sex with. it was first discovered sex this is interesting. now you meet someone 21 i'd like you to be daddy and be there with a thing and wear this and where do you get this from? >> we are on cnn. for a panel who do you think trump has on his short list for vp? stephanic isn't she the new york state used to be a normal and

then became plumb crazy? >> i think nikki haley he's teamed up with [indistinct] although there are parts of maga that might not love him, i think there's a lot of the actual numbers, people around trump trying to get him to think about that. >> i saw in the paper this week that he is doing better and did better with college education. i remember when he won iowa or was running in iowa in 2016 and he had that famous line, i love the poorly educated. you can't write this material. >> you said it looks like he could get reelected. he could but he got three million fewer votes in '16 and 7 million in '20 and the democrats

have won every state based election last year. if he's going to win he can't run as the '20 or '16 version of him. >> the trouble with nikki haley is she makes dick cheney look like the dalai lama. the reels she wouldn't bomb. she is most unreconstructed neo-con i've ever encountered. >> you're parsing. you've given your voters too much credit. they're looking at neo-con. this is not what they're thinking about. >> people are sick of these wars and it seems like they're not going to like it. >> i don't think voters expect a

running mate to set foreign policy, period. >> i don't think they think about foreign policy. the one they care about now is ukraine because it's holding up immigration reform. they care about this country what's going on in this country the way most people watch local news. >> they don't want the war which nikki represents. >> the media and trump don't think he's going to take the cue from her on that. >> that's the issue they're voting on. >> nikki haley what is she going to do about pakistan? i don't think it's -- i don't know what to think. time for one more. i see they're going after alec baldwin again for the shooting. is this not the most ridiculous thing? does anyone think alec baldwin purposefully shot that person?

if it was an accident, accidents happen but certainly he didn't go give me a loaded gun, i want to shoot the cinematographer. >> legal view? >> yes. >> overcharged and hard to imagine a normal random citizen a non-famous citizen twice on the case. legally prosecutors say as involuntary manslaughter we are saying it was so reckless life was lost and obviously a lot has to change however the set was run but i don't think based on how it looks and what we know, again more evidence came out a citizen a non-famous person would be double charged like this. >> okay. out of time. thank you cnn. thanks audience and thank you panel. see you next week. good to be back. [applause] >> you know you can watch

realtime with bill maher. madonna facing a lawsuit over starting her concerts two hours late. one of the plaintiffs is my guest.

there is a lot of information out there. hamas is a terrorist group oppressing the palestinian people. hamas refused

a continued ceasefire, a continued pause in fighting and more aid from israelis in exchange for just freeing more hostages. instead, hamas resumed attacks. not to protect the palestinian people or obtain peace, only to destroy israel. we must stand against hamas and stand with palestinians and israelis for basic human rights. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> madonna in hot water for

being late to her own concert. two fans have filed a class-action lawsuit against the material girl. accusing madonna live nation and brooklyn's barclays center of false advertising negligent misrepresentation and unfair deceptive trade practices after she started her celebration tour concert hours late last month to which i asked, what, a friday? the lawsuit said she arrived two hours late to three shows two of which during the workweek. fans said they had trouble getting home and had to get up early next day. reach out to madonna live nation and barclays but haven't heard back. joining me one plaintiff in the lawsuit jonathan haden and his attorney richard class. thanks for being here. when i first saw the headline i had to delve in deeper and understand what the nature of the suit was about and the why and begin with you jonathan

because according to your lawsuit one concert night madonna didn't take the stage until i think 11 p.m. and advertised start was 8:30 p.m. two hours late i get you annoying but why you think this rises to the level of a lawsuit. >> well, because it's consistent behavior. i attend a lot of concerts. i greatly enjoy live performance and of course anyone can be executioned for quote-unquote unforeseen circumstances. but her delays are not related to unforeseen circumstances. she plans on going on that late. it's been every night on the tour. >> how do you know that? >> while it's frivolous for one person to be slightly inconvenienced there were 20,000 people in the audience that night alone and she's doing six concerts overall in new york. that's 120,000 people. and then multiply across all the cities so this is a major

inconvenience to a large population of people. >> you know i wonder first how you're aware of the lateness but also more specifically since you are aware and this is as you say consistent then would you not be expecting it to be? how did you not know it was going to be late? >> well, here's the thing. i've been to every madonna tour since 1985. she's a wonderful performer. i would encourage everyone to go see her shows and however, it is definitely misrepresentation to say that a show is going to start at 8 p.m. and not take the stage until 10:30. >> i have to wonder from the perspective of many people that have gone to concert and advertise and there's an opening acted you didn't expect, you bought a ticket for said performer and opening member goes on longer than thoughts or you thought there was end time or you want them to play all your favorite songs and they

decided i want to play my other music all that rise to level of lawsuit because it wasn't your preference how they performed? >> so madonna is notorious for starting her concerts late, much later than what the ticket says. however, that's not always the case. she has started concerts on time. so it's not the case that she always starts a concert two hours or over two hours late. and it's unreasonable unconscionable she does that and a lot of fans are not aware that's what happens with her concerts. >> i understand inconvenience and if you're in a certain city and relying on public transportation and yon but what is the end game? surely you could have left, somebody would say. you could have just decided not to attend the concert or left early it was time to commute for you. would a refund be sufficient or

are you asking for greater daniels? >> so, at a minimum, we are asking for a class to be certified, a class-action being brought and johnson has stepped up as the class representative and we are asking for a refund but obviously we are asking for damages and that will be determined by the judge who certifies the class but we are asking her to do good. her tour is going on there. are concerts coming up. the concert is not over so we want her to be a good performer going forward good to her fans. >> i understand. jackie give you the last word. i'm assuming you're not going to go to her concerts anymore or are you on this tour again? >> the rest of the world operates on schedules. that's the way

that's the wail the world operates. there was a considering that the concerts would run approximately 3 hours, 8:00 to 11:00 p.m.. if you're running for five hour, all of those things should be noted. that's, that's just good communication and good business practice. >> well, i suspect there are a number of reasons madonna is on the tip of people's tongues for many decades. but jonathan, richard class thank you so much for stopping by. i was really interested in what you had to say and i'm glad you spoke here today. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> we'll be right back.

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you know how sometimes you say something and you wonder whether people might take it the wrong way. well it happened to me earlier this week. >> they're beating a dead horse. peta don't kill me, it's just a term of phrase and i say that. >> reporter: well not only did peta not get mad at me they sent what they call animal friendly suggestions replacing some common phrases. beating dead horse becomes feeding a fed horse. killing two birds with one stone becomes, feeding two birds with one scone. bring home the bacon becomes, bring home the bagels. thank you, peta i do check my e- mail. thank you all for watching.

i'll be live on instagram in just a few minutes. be sure to check in n for a bit of an n aftershow.w. and ththe news contitinues here cnn. to duckduckgo on all your devie

duckduckgo comes with a built-n engine like google, but it's pi and doesn't spy on your searchs and duckduckgo lets you browse like chrome, but it blocks cooi and creepy ads that follow youa from google and other companie. and there's no catch. it's fre. we make money from ads, but they don't follow you aroud join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on all your devices today.