let's pivot to fulton county, georgia, where judge scott mcafee did not set a trial date today. but did you, lisa, get a sense of how he felt about the trump team's scheduling preferences, which could put this trial out to the end of the decade? >> i didn't, melissa. that was actually what surprised me. i think he was trying to see whether there was any room to schedule a trial, a place where the prosecution and the defense might agree. but as you previewed, steve sadow gave him no opening. he said august is way too soon, and anytime after november is too late, and in between, my guy is busy campaigning. and so there was no place. there was much less contentious for example than the lawyers i have been watching in the trump civil fraud trial here in new york. but despite his very polite approach to the bench, he wasn't allowing really for any opportunity to try his client at all. he laid forth the trial schedule and said he's going to try and d.c. emerge, then he's got a trial scheduled in florida in may, and then there after he supposed to be try to new york, i'll pause there a

let's pivot to fulton county, georgia, where judge scott mcafee did not set a trial date today. did you, lisa, get a sense of how he felt about the trump team's scheduling preferences, which could put this trial out to the end of the decade? >> i didn't, melissa. that was actually what surprised me. i think he was trying to see whether there was any room to schedule a trial, a place where the prosecution and the defense might agree. but as you previewed, steve sadow gave him no opening. he said august is way too soon, and anytime after november is too late, and in between, my guy is busy campaigning. and so there was no place. there was much less contentious for example than the lawyers i have been watching in the trump civil fraud trial here in new york. but despite his very polite approach to the bench, he wasn't allowing really for any opportunity to try his client at all. he laid forth the trial schedule and said he's going to try and d. c. emerge, then he's got a trial scheduled in florida in may, and then there after he supposed to be try to new york, i'll pause there and

it was the first time fulton county judge scott mcafee heard directly from don trump's criminal defenseaid trump can be put on trial because he's running for president. >> can you abandon the notion of the republican nominee for president not being able to campaign for the presidency because he is, in some form or fashion, in court? the bottom line is, i don't think we should set a trial date. >> of course not. and here's where trump's ultimate goal in fulton county became clear. >> if your client does win election in 2024, could he even be tried in 2025? >> the answer to that is, i believe, that under the -- laws and his duty as president of the night in states, the trial would not take place at all until after he left his term in office. >> till after he left office? that would be 2029. just attorney fani willis's team responded to that outrageous proposition with a simple request to, quote, move forward with this business at fulton county. attorneys for multiple codefendants argued that the case should be dismissed on first amendment grounds. >> this is yet. this is the first time th

it was the first time fulton county judge scott mcafee heard directly from trump's criminal defense team, including the lead attorney, stephen sadow, who said trump can't be put on trial because he's running for president. >> can you abandon the notion of the republican nominee for president not being able to campaign for the presidency because he is, in some form or fashion, in court? the bottom line is, i don't think we should set a trial date. >> of course not. and here's where trump's ultimate goal in fulton county became clear. >> if your client does win election in 2024, could he even be tried in 2025? >> the answer to that is, i believe, that under the -- laws and his duty as president of the night in states, the trial would not take place at all until after he left his term in office. >> till after he left office? that would be 2029. just attorney fani willis's team responded to that outrageous proposition with a simple request to, quote, move forward with this business at fulton county. attorneys for multiple codefendants argued that the case should be dismissed on first amendme

our viewers have been waiting for this trial date from scott mcafee.e fact that she has announced no plea deals for trump, meadows, and giuliani would actually help inform the decision as to when a child it gets set? >> we have heard privately that scott mcafee has been told that he should maybe delay setting trial dates or schedules because we might be getting more ponytails. this was a month or so ago. there are a lot of moving parts in terms of the potential trial date. the other thing that was interesting is we do have a proposed trial date. >> august 2024. >> we want the plea deal to end in july. that gives them a lot of time to secure additional witnesses who might want to flip and cooperate. >> let's shift gears and talk about the fact that tomorrow is going to be the last witness on behalf of the defense and the new york civil fraud case being prosecuted by the attorney general letitia james. that star witness is donald trump, maybe a star only in his own mind, that a limited gag order from justice and warren having then put back into place. my

. >> now, let fulton county judge scott mcafee make the final judgment on that. these recent rulings and arguments are reminders that there are still a number of complex issues to resolve as america, for the first time, considers the prosecution of a former president who is also running to return to the white house. it's been looming large over the republican presidential primary since the very beginning. in these recent rulings, the vulnerabilities that they expose are perhaps welcome news for the remaining candidates who are currently trailing the former president by a country mile. it's been a particularly good week for the former south carolina governor and trump's former united nations ambassador, nikki haley, who appears to be coalcing the support of the anti trump faction of the gop. she recently received a coveted endorsement from the coat tworks powerful and influential conservative super pac and a boost of support from jamie dimon, this is the ego of jpmorgan chase. recent polls have also shown her pulling ahead of ron desantis in the early primary stat

what scott mcafee, the ruling he issued there says facts and evidence need to be established if courtefore that first amendment challenge could be put into the equation. brianna? >> norm, this first amendment argument, as we noted, the judge has struck it down before. any doubt in your mind that that happens again this time around? >> it's virtually certain, boris, that this trial is not going to be slowed down by the first amendment argument before we get to trial. now, it is possible, when you get into trial and the facts and evidence come in, and that's what the judge signaled, he may say, well, we're going to take this piece of the case out, some of the remarks on january 6th, you won't be allowed to argue that to the jury. so he may peel away little pieces here and there, he may not. for now, first amendment not an obs obstacle. >> and trump's lawyers are attempting to get all these criminal trials delayed here. >> well, and we got a taste of that in the afternoon session before the judge today. he's new judge but has been so impressive because he surveyed the waterfront, all of

mcafee, but they are in court of the state election case against donald trump making a key argumentow. what are they asking for? they are asare -- >> they are asking for a lot of things. and we are in the position of the case where the big question is timing. there was that trial that had been set to go forward the co-defendants sidney powell and ken chesebro plead guilty and now there is a huge question hanging over judge mcafee's head of when is this case going on the calendar and how long do the parties have to make their arguments and get it addressed in court. there is also a question of what donald trump's team has to do going forward in that, he has been hopping on what other defendants in the case have been arguing, but his lawyers have not been out there on their own, and we have seen it in court, and this hearing is just starting, so we will be watching exactly what happens there, and where judge mcafee takes i. >> i want to go to you, elie honig, and we are looking at the pictures of the judge, and the first time that trump's attorneys have been there in person defending

judge scott mcafee could also potentially set a start date for this trial during this hearing.d intelligence correspondent ken dilanian is back with us now. ken, you're all over everything today it feels like. you've been monitoring this hearing. what are you seeing so far? >> well, ana, this is the first time that donald trump's attorneys have appeared to defend him in this case, and they are going to attack this indictment on first amendment grounds. they're arguing that what donald trump did in an effort to pressure state officials to investigate fraud is protected first amendment speech and should not be criminalized. now, the judge in this case has already taken a dim view of that argument made by other co-defendants. so it will be interesting to see what he says exactly. and as you mentioned, you know, there certainly will be some scheduling back and forth. as of right now, this case is scheduled to go to trial in august, right in the heart of the presidential campaign. donald trump's lawyers in every venue, in every criminal venue he's involved in have sought to delay, d

and, you know, mike pence on the stand would be riveting tv, but of course judge scott mcafee in theerior court would have to set a trial, and he has been reluctant to do so thus far. >> what about jack smith? we're going to bounce around to all the different legal cases. there's a little bit of news on jack smith's case in to election interference, talking about using donald trump's own words in the case against the former president. >> absolutely. so jack smith made a filing yesterday, which is required under the law to give notice to the other side about certain types of proof that jack smith is intending to use, and as the indictment lays out, the prosecution is intending to use lots of statements that donald trump made. for instance, his years long litany of saying there was fraud in an election, no matter what election is. it sounds like he reacted to what, in fact happened to any particular election. he was always having a plan b, which is if he lost saying, well, there was fraud in the election. so it was a heads i win, tales you lose situation. in addition that filing had ve

steve sato, donald trump's, lawyer said to the judge they, are scott mcafee, that it would be considered election interference, for donald trump to be on trial while he is the presumptive nominee, or the nominee for the republican party. now that trial might be underway july or august. so we might be in that position that donald trump is the presumptive nominee, and he's going on trial. judge mcafee has not issued a ruling in that. there are some questions that suggested to me that he thought of that as things that make you go -- but what do you think about that discussion? >> this idea of election interference is not a legal matter. he is saying, sort of, de facto, if that trial is going on while the election occurs, then it could certainly influence the choices of some voters. now, if you or i were on trial, ali, and we, said this is interviewing of my ability to do my job, the judge would say, you know, that's not my problem. the trial is going to go and it is going to go, and i'm sorry if it has some adverse consequences on your employment. but when it comes to someone running for pr

in fulton county steve sadow, trump's lawyer, had this discussion with the judge scott mcafee.got to do with timing. sadow says as this thing gets closer to the nomination and donald trump may be the presumptive republican nominee, that i be as early as march, super tuesday, sadow says, "can you imagine anything more an act of election interference than a presidential candidate who has to interfere with his campaigning to appear in a court?" so then mcafee the judge says, all right, if this doesn't go to trial before the election and donald trump becomes the president, can he be tried then? the lawyer says he doesn't think so. so then mcafee says, so basically the first time that donald trump could be tried under donald trump's lawyer's supposition if he were to become the republican nominee and become president is january 20th, 2029. >> yeah. that's exactly the argument. i mean, you completely summarized it. don't try me now, don't try me then, don't try me ever really. and in terms of sort of the constitution, though, i think there is a pretty serious question about whether a

that makes them different from judge chutkan or judge scott mcafee who was appointed by governor brianrgia. the fact they were elected gives them more transparency to the public and it's a transparency that team trump has exploited to call these people political hacks. they'll say that about a number of these folks. they can say it with greater credibility given the manner in which judges are elected in new york state. >> interesting. these are all important things to watch. i cannot imagine from the day we first started watching this new york civil trial that it would be as spicy as it's turned out to be. thank you to both of you for being here. >>> when we come back, the 31-year-old woman who battled in court with the state of texas over her reproductive health says she's leaving the state. one of her lawyers joins us next. joins us next a good feeling ♪ there's big news for women going through menopause. veozah - a prescription treatment for moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms - the medical name for hot flashes and night sweats. with hormone-free veozah, you can have fewer hot fla