elie honig is standing, standing here with me. elie, thank you so much. mature for jumping jumping down here. we're going to wait to get the exact details of what we hear from judge scott mcafee, but this has been the moment that has been longtime coming longtime anticipated, and very much waiting for for everyone on every side of this case. what is at stake here? so let's set the stakes >> if fani willis is disqualified then her entire office would be removed. in this case. the case would go into a sort of holding pattern where it might languish indefinitely if she is not disqualified, then the case can carry on. now there's still questions about when it would be tried. the da's asking for an august trial. de i don't think that's realistic, but really whether this case stays on track or not yet will be term and by the decision which we're going through right now as to whether the da has been disqualified la stick with me controlling tells me it. paula reid was hit over to paula reid who has more information about what is in this decision from scott matt

is it appropriate for doj to try trump in the fall of 2020 for joining me now is elie honig, cnn senior legal analyst, former federal prosecutor, elie, thanks so much for coming back i think i made clear, judge. judges set trial dates. judges du but to what extent can a prosecutor affect that decision well, the prosecutor has a substantial say in this decision, michael, in every case, not just this one, there's always this sort of push and pull going on where prosecutors saying, judge, we'd like to try this case soon, you usually sooner and typically defendants are seeking to push it back. donald trump did not invent the delay tactic. take my word for it. ultimately, it is the judge's >> call, but you are absolutely as a doj prosecutor, you are making a conscious specific strategy call in when you ask a judge for the election and judges do take that heavily into account >> okay. 60 days, 90 days. where can i go and read it? like where is this standard elie? >> it is nowhere, michael, so this is sort of an urban legend within doj. it comes from that two-page letter that you just showed i

and now i think there's serious doubt about that too. >> elie honig, your former office, he said you'd plead guilty for this. sorry, guys. we'll, see what that looks like. ellie will stay with you on all of this. also, i should note that donald trump was in a federal courtroom in florida today for another case. >> the >> classified documents case that we've been talking about here all week, but the presence of him in there in that court, even though he appointed the judge here to the bench, did not seem to slow her down. she quickly denied emotion that he was making one of many i should note to dismiss that entire case. and i'm joined now by an attorney who's to represent donald trump in that very case to trustee and jim, it's great to have you back. this was two of nine total motions from the trump team to dismiss this case. do you ultimately believe that any of them will be successful? >> i think it's possible. i mean, look, today's motion. you've got to keep in mind. this was a very academic oriented motion about void for vagueness, challenging the very statutes that are in play in

let's bring in cnn's elie honig. elie translates for that for us. i'm not a lawyer. what does that what does that mean? they've to eat took these six counts about trying to get an officer to violate his oath of office, right. the one about the secretary of state and said, you can't do that. why not? right? so jake, the very fundamental purpose of an indictment is to serve notice to notify the defendant. here's what you are charged with doing. that was illegal. and in this case, the six charges they all relate to a sort of unusual georgia law that makes it a crime to ask a public official to violate his oath of office? office, the way those charges are charged in the indictment here, it says, while the defendants tried to get certain georgia public officials to violate the constitution, and the judge said, that's not specific enough because there are dozens, if not hundreds, of separate provisions in the constitution. so you haven't adequately informed the defendants what actual crime there specifically being charged with. that's why the judge, throughout those six co

cnn senior legal analyst, elie honig is joining us now. first of all, what do we need to know about robert hur? he is now in the capacity of a regular guy, but he was the special counsel, robert hur has kept a very low profile throughout this investigation, but today, like it or not, spotlights going to be on him a couple of important things to know about robert hur. he was a longtime federal prosecutor. he was a trial prosecutor in maryland that he went over to headquarters in dc. he was named us this attorney. he was nominated by donald trump. he was confirmed in 2018. important to note, he was confirmed by unanimous voice vote in the senate. there was no opposition to him from republicans or democrats. and then merrick garland appointed him as special counsel about a year ago in january of 2023. now, let's just talk about what that means that he came became special counsel that means merrick garland gave robert hur the powers of any doj federal prosecutor. lets special counsel has a bit more independence. the regulation say he's not sub

i want to bring in cnn's legal analyst, elie honig right now. ellie, what do you make of navarro, a former trump white house official going to prison now for refusing to cooperate with congresses january 6, investigation, while trump himself continues to evade any sort of accountability >> all right. >> well, what if it's an interesting question about what does it mean to really see accountability in this country? the reason peter navarro is behind bars right now is because he refused to give testimony that could have been damaging to donald trump he joins a long list of donald trump's advisers and enablers who have seen meaningful criminal consequences. steve bannon has been sentenced to four months for the same crime. he's on appeal right now. michael cohen, paul manafort, george papa da, plus all of them convicted for federal crimes, did time and then you get to roger stone, michael flynn, all of them both of them were convicted and then part and so these are all people around donald trump who face meaningful criminal consequences. whether do

former federal prosecutor elie honig is back with me, elie. what do you make of that response from the oliveira's attorney? >> well, jake, it's certainly fair for any defense lawyer to say we don't want to make public statements and will be litigating this case in court. notably different, however, from the approach of the co-defendant, donald trump, who has very much tried to litigate this case in the court of public opinion. now it's also worth noting. it's a virtual certainty that this individual, mr. butler, has freddy, made statements under oath, either to a grand jury or as kaitlan polantz just said, directly to a prosecutor, which is punishable by perjury. now there's a difference between testifying to a prosecutor or to a grand jury where you're not being cross-examined and testifying on witness stand at trial. where you are subject to cross-examination. so that's really where the rubber hits the road. this is a fair i think response by the oliviera, but not in step with the other defendants in the case. >> how might trump's defense te

i want to bring in cnn senior legal analyst former federal prosecutor elie honig to discuss elie, how important is this news? how important is brian butler's testimony for the special counsel's team building a case against trump and his co-defendants. and was there any significant and what you heard him say, just them? >> yeah, jake so this type of witness is gold for prosecutors and there's a few reasons for that. first of all, this person has insider access. he is literally inside the room as kaitlan just laid out. he's there when boxes are being loaded onto the plane and one of the challenges for prosecutors here is explaining exactly where these documents were moved and when and by i whom in this person can give us exactly why second of all, he's a person who appears to be unbiased. he doesn't seem to have any reason to have an ax to grind with donald trump as kaitlan said, he's a longtime two decades long employee of donald trump and the trump organization, just based on the snippet that we just saw, he does not appear to be angry or resentful towards donald trump. finally, if yo

i also want to bring in seen as senior legal analyst, elie honig as cnn senior law enforcement analyst, andrew mccabe le should this gag order also cover the judges family and what do you make of prosecutors asked you the judge for clarification? >> well, if i think this was a strong reaction by the da's office to trump's ran on truth, social yesterday where he singled out by name the judges daughter. now, i think if you look at the existing limited gag order as it's written, it probably does not technically apply to the family members of the judge. it certainly does not i apply to the judge himself. and so i think it's the right move by the da's office to say, judge, we need some clarification here, and by the way, we think it should apply to the family members of you, the judge, even if it does not apply to you as the judge himself. now, trump's team is probably right that that would require an expansion of the limited gag order, but i think the judge would be entirely within his bytes here to say yes, it requires an expansion and i'm granting that expansion based on these comments a

minds to sort it all out for you here with me tonight, a pair of former top federal prosecutors, elie honig and jennifer rodgers and elie, i mean, this is basically it is the ballgame. we've got now two weeks to decide where do you think the judge's head is at all this i'm gonna make a bold prediction right here on the source, okay? it's 50, 50 >> i'm sorry. but you know, i would say if i felt strongly one way or the other, this one so hard for me to peg because there's a thing we say is prosecutor sometimes which is it's one thing to know something. it's another thing to be able to prove it. now, having watched these hearings play out over the last couple of weeks, i think they're very serious questions about when this relationship began, about whether fani willis and nathan wade well the truth or lied on the stand. that's one of the other. there's no gray area here about whether she has some sort of untenable financial interest. but the problem is that evidence was such a mess. it was so confusing and unclear and so muddled. and now the judge is going to have to wade through this and watc

elie honig is also joining us from new york, but first let's go to cnn senior crime and justice reporter katelyn polantz, who is live outside the courthouse in atlanta. caitlin, tell us more about what we are expected to hear in court this morning. >> well today in court is the first time that fani willis is office will be back before all of those hearings over her ethics debacle, something that the judge has warned her not to step into any issues, any more talking about the case outside of court. nathan wade, the lead prosecutor, resign all back today, and this will be a refocus on the law and on the allegations the charges, there will be arguments from donald trump's legal team. now, donald trump isn't expected to be here in person, neither is fani willis herself but there will be arguments from donald trump's lawyers today about the first amendment they say that this racketeering conspiracy allegation that he faces includes quite a lot of political speech, tweets. he was sent it sending even things that are protected under the constitution, at least in the view of his attorneys. and s

former assistant us attorney to the southern district of new york and cnn's senior legal analyst, elie honig. elie, i mean, trump didn't, like, just walk into a bank with a bag of $92 million. how does this process actually work as this appeal plays out. >> so we're going to break this down nice and simple. and i asked the team to put together a little visual aid for us if they would pop it up. yes it'll help. so there are three relevant players here is donald trump. there's the court and then there's the middleman, which in this case is a bond company. that's part of the very large insurance company. chubb. there are two relevant deals here. the insurance company has assured the court in a way that can be legally enforced. if donald trump doesn't pay whatever he owes at the end of this, we are liable for it. you the court can come get it from us. but of course, the second part of the transaction here is trump has to make promises to the insurance company, and trump has to post some amount of cash, not the full 92 amount, 92 million. we don't know how much. plus other guarantees could be dee

joining us down to discuss former federal prosecutor elie honig and elie, you've been predicting this exact outcome for months. was there anything in today's ruling that stuck out to you know, jake, i think when you take the politics out of this and you take the donald trump of it all out of this the result is fairly straightforward strictly on a legal and constitutional basis, and it's not often that we see a nine to nothing ruling. but the justices did agree. in fact that it is not up to the states to enforce an execute the 14th amendment. you saw at justices alito and thomas in agreement with justices sotomayor and kagan on that point. it's simply he could not be as a matter of law, as a matter of constitutional interpretation, that every state gets to do what it wants, because otherwise that would leave us with a quote, patchwork of different states doing different things according to the decision. so it's a rare 90 opinion and i think they hit the nail on the head here now we saw two concurring opinions, one by justice amy coney barrett, and one by the three liberal leaning justi

so it's all interrelated here that will certainly look large and the policy background elie honig. thank you so much for coming on. this is a really important story. there'll be watching it and we'll come back to you throughout the morning. appreciate it. john >> obviously, the biden harris campaign is talking about abortion access as it travels around the country, both the president and vice president will be in north carolina today. he were the issue of access to abortion has been front and center with this. now is the governor of north carolina, democrat roy cooper, governor. thank you so much for being with us and just to remind people what has happened in your state is the state legislature overrode a veto of yours to enact a ban on abortions before i believe it's what, 12 weeks in your state right now. so this is something you've been dealing with every day. what are you watching for in the supreme court today? how important is this decision to the people of your state? >> it's very important. we need to protect women's reproductive freedom as much as we can. and it's really

cnn senior legal analyst, elie honig joins us now, elie, what do you make of this? >> well, jim, this is an undeniable setback for the district attorney, not the entire indictment, but six of the 40 counts have now been dismissed. and here's why it's important to understand georgia state law has this sort of unusual law that says it's a crime to solicit to ask a public official to violate his official oath of office and as nic just laid out there, six counts in this indictment, that say donald trump and other defendants asked various members of the georgia senate and the georgia legislature and the georgia secretary of state, other public officials to violate their oath to the constitution by essentially swinging the election. but what the judge says here is you prosecutors, you have to say what part of the constitution the judge says, there are hundreds of provisions in the us constitution and in the georgia state constitution. and the purpose of an indictment is to give defendants notice so they know what they're defending against and you can't just say, well, you

i hope i didn't harm anyone instead, he's doubling or tripling down elie honig. thank you for being with us on major breaking news. also, speaking of major, it is a red flag to tell lies on a job interview. obviously, we all know that. but apparently it is not at the new trump run republican national committee. there was a new question that hires apparently have to get wrong >> kinda riva support your brain health. >> very janice, hey eddie, know, fraser, franck, franck, bred. how are you >> fred fuel up to seven brain health indicators including your memory, joined the new riva brain health challenge. >> when barbarous was to turbotax >> i wrote four generations of family tradition >> i want to make perfume little. >> so i mean barbers, new psyche counts by guaranteeing her maximum refund intuit turbotax's dangerous ladders, gutter mac >> yeah. >> no wonder you hate cleaning your gutters. >> good thing. there's leaf filter are patented filter technology keeps leaves and debris out of your gutters forever guaranteed colleague 3-3 lee filter to get started and get

elie honig, thanks so much the attacks by hamas on october 7 have sparked deep divisions tier and the united states and given birth to a rise of anti-semitism how some students in one california school district are facing this wave of hate that's next demand for energy is growing, and so is the need for american oil and natural gas. it's time i am to turn the lights on >> america's resources are abundant. our nation is a global leader in reducing emissions and innovators and delivering more energy g sources to secure our future. nine in ten americans agree, american oil and natural gas are vital to our account. >> lights millions of people have lost weight with personalized plans from noon, like evan, who lost 50 pounds, i'd never really was a salad guy. that's just not who i i am even through the pickiness num taught me that building better habits, built a healthier lifestyle, get started today and moves 15 pounds and 15 weeks. >> scout is protected by sim perrigo trio and he's in it to win it sympatric, a trio is the first. chu would triple protection the intestinal worms. well, hea

elie honig, franklin's phil mattingly, kara scannell. thank you. one at all. next, we have breaking news on the capturable of violent inmate and his alleged accomplice after an escape that left three comps wounded plus new video at a live report from the southern border were violence erupted between migrants and national guard troops welcome to the waiver hoods, wayfair vibe at airplane western. >> my thing, darling >> gardening >> some of us go how did i know we've your head vanities entitled >> this >> ottomans without legs? >> you flip for the group. crime. >> in the neighborhood. there's a place for all of us. >> every style, every home. >> he there, brenda. >> it's carroll exactly. >> so which like are we operating on? >> you mean arm? >> it's all connected asking the right question, can greatly impact your future. >> you sure you're in orthopedist >> actually, i'm a sagittarius specially when it comes to your finances, give a question. >> are you a certified financial planner? >> yes. i'm a cfp professional >> cop professionals are committed to acting in

perspective now from two former federal prosecutors, jeffrey toobin and cnn senior legal analyst elie honig, also joining us is going keys who served as district attorney for the stone mountain judicial circuit into cab county georgia jeff, i mean, the the judge's opinion was a scathing rebuke of of willis her judgment. he wrote that the reasonable questions remain about whether willis and wade testified untruthfully about the timing of their relationship. i mean, that's today was a very good day for donald trump. this case is going nowhere. even if in the extremely unlikely event that this somehow staggers to trial in august or in the fall. >> think about this. there's another racketeering case in georgia where jury selection, not the trial jury pretty selection has taken a year. this case is never going to trial before the election. >> it's an >> embarrassment. all of this. i mean, it fani willis has hung on, but this case is going nowhere very quickly. >> gwen, i mean, this is now the second time that willis has been managed by a judge for showing incredibly bad judgment. >> well, probab

elie honig, thanks for being with us tonight. and just in as texas remains on edge over this controversial immigration law, hundreds of migrants have been arrested after rushing a razor wire and we'll tell you what you need to know and show you that video. cnn is their life hits a smart center stage in his crushed by a baby grand piano >> you >> replacing me >> customize and saved with liberty. liberty. >> he doesn't even have a mustache. only pay for what you need labor day >> when enamel is gone, you cannot get it back, but you can repair it with pronoun will repair it penetrates deep into the to, to actively repair for acid weakened enamel. i recommend pronoun will repair with new pronoun will repair mouthwash. you can enhance that repair beyond and brushing. they work great together >> if you're like, i was, you're tired of worn-out plastic mats under your office chair. they dent in crack and they're uncomfortable to roll on i found a premium alternative, a glass chairman, by the trazodone. i liked it so much. i bought the co

hand over those two prosecutors local process out really duty to do that as a prostate outrage, elie honig, adjust toobin going keys. great to have you on. thank you. coming up next the presidential race and new polling on how robert kennedy jr. and other third-party can't and needs could shape it. cnn's john king is at the magic wall for us, plus the latest on the fake photo, princess kate and her kids. and why prince harry and his wife meghan, are now facing questions for a whole different reason. more ad even the most chilling parents know when it's time to go >> into protect mode nothing kills more viruses on more surfaces, then lysol disinfectant spray >> good morning with tokelau >> good. good. good. >> yeah tried to alkyl x20 fruit bites for fast and gentle constipation relief in as little as 30 minutes, making your good morning even better with all galactose >> you know that thing your family does >> someone made it back in the day. but where do they come from ancestry can help you find out >> lucky year. >> it's on sale now hi mornings ingestion. i'm feeling better all in one and

can still make his appeal, but he seemed to have very little chance of prevailing all right. >> elie honig, thanks so much the attacks by hamas on october 7 have sparked deep divisions here in the united states and given birth to arise of anti semitism, how some students in one california school district are facing this wave of hate that's next >> united states of scan with jake tapper. sunday, a nine on cnn, cracked windshield. >> schedule would say flight and will come to you to fix it. this customer was enjoying her morning walk. we texted her when we were on our way and she could track us and see exactly when we'd arrive. >> a few we came to her with service that fit her schedule. >> he must be pascal in an to meet you. we got right to work with a replacement. she could trust. we've come to you for free, scheduled now for free mobile service at safe flight.com a flight we pay are safe, like be place my psoriasis was all of them psoriatic arthritis who knew they could be >> connected for me, consent search works on both the syntax helps real people find clear skin and in psoriatic arthr

it's with a fundraiser >> david cay johnston, elie honig, kara scannell. thank you. the former president continued to complain about the upper after he warned at a rally over the weekend that there would be a bloodbath if he's not but elected. quoting now from his social media posts today, the fake news media or excuse me, the fake news made a big deal out of the word bloodbath, knowing that it was about are shrinking auto manufacturing business. and the fact that they use the same name all the time. now, before we go any further, here's what he actually said in context. saturday in ohio we're going to put a 100% tariff on every single car that comes across the line and you're not going to be able to sell those guys. if i get elected now, if i don't get elected, it's going to be a bloodbath for the whole that's gonna be the least of it. it's going to be a bloodbath for the conscience >> so as you hear, he certainly did start off by talking about carmakers and apparently a bloodbath if he's not elected for the whole car industry, but he stopped himself and then elabor

at trump, biographer and investigative reporter, david kate johnson, cnn senior legal analyst, elie honig, and cnn's kara scannell. so more of the former president's attorneys say. >> so we learned in this that they had approached 30 different underwriter there's some people that would secure the bond and none of them were willing to do this, including some of the biggest insurance companies in the world. no, trump's lawyers say that some of the reason why they wouldn't do this is because they have their own internal limits not to secure a bond in excess of $100 million. trump needs five times that amount. so that was one of the big issues, but they said what the major obstacle that they faced was that none of these insurers would accept real estate as collateral against the money that they wouldn't underwrite. so they said they wanted only cash or stocks, something that could quickly turn it to cash. and trump doesn't have that on hand. they acknowledged that in this filing, and so they came to the judge saying they are unable to get this bond as part of their effort to try to either hav

well, not the clock. >> elie honig, tom dupree. thanks so much. we're also standing by for a judge's decision and fulton county, georgia decision that will determine whether district attorney fani willis can stay on the election subversion case that she brought against donald trump. why this decision might not be the only thing standing and willis's way that's next >> united states of scandal with jake tapper. sunday at nine on cnn. >> one greeting seven high severity. >> yeah. >> that's not good. happened huge things. happen happened. >> there were three, learn more at rnc.com mornings, digestion, i'm feeling better all in one and done with new mucinex kickstart better now used. >> the next kickstart gives all in one and done relief with our morning joseph. cooling sensation. combat season >> i'm starting to think this is bad idea >> you tell me. i just think we had find a pair give on his new mode once you let me see >> it's a pregnant cake >> don't panic. gift easy with gift mode, new on etsy. >> hi, i'm jason. i've lost 228 pounds angola i don

want to get some perspective now on all this from former federal prosecutor elie honig and former nixon white house counsel, john dean. what do you make it this july 8th day? >> well, so that's a really interesting missing development that there could be some agreement here between the parties to do a trial in july or august. and if that's the deal, i think i see why each side might be interested in that. it tells me, first of all that jack smith has now concluded that it's very unlikely he's going to get his january 6 trial and we just saw the supreme court take that case yesterday. i think he's done the math and seeing that that's essentially a done deal in terms of trying it before the election, this would allow jack smith to at least try the mar-a-lago case before the election and from trump's team perspective, they get the win of moving the january 6 trial until after trial until after the election and it allows that they would go ahead with the florida trial, the mar-a-lago trial, but you're going to have a good jury there. if you're donald trump, you're going to have half that ju

very soon, elie honig, franklin's phil mattingly, kara scannell. thank you. one at all. next, we have breaking news on the capture of violent inmate and his alleged accomplice after an escape that left three comps wounded plus new video in a live report from the southern border were violence erupted between migrants and national guard troops so i can take all these trips because priceline has all these amazing deals and that's when i said deal get on your right is our infinity deal >> the deals, it deals are me, 30 or had me see idp disrupts cid p derails. >> let's be honest >> sucks. >> but living to see idp doesn't have to. >> when you sign up at shining through cid p.com, you'll find inspiration and real patients stories helpful tips, reliable information, and more >> cid p can be tough. >> but finding hope just got a little easier. >> sign up. is shining through cip.com be heard, be hopeful, bu >> i had to buy something where it was supposed to hang it i don't, know >> in the attic enough room to keep your cargo and your secrets safe. >> if you have chronic kidney di

correspondent paula reid, our national correspondent, kristen holmes, and cnn senior legal analyst, elie honig who is a former federal prosecutor paula, let me reiterate or repeat what we just saw. part of the ruling. very strong words from this judge. this finding is by no means an indication that the court condones this tremendous lapse in judgment or the unprofessional manner of the district attorney's testimony during the evidentiary hearing. that's very very strong language. yeah. there's a lot of strong language in here. this is an incredibly high stakes decision, and the judge had to show his work. he found that he believed that there was a pattern of bad behavior that's what a lot of the strong language is about. but ultimately that fani willis was not engaged in some sort of scheme to profit off of this case, which is why he is letting her stay on this case, but he's asking for nathan wade to be removed or the office itself to just remove themselves from the case, but it's never a good day. we'll when the judge overseeing the most high-profile case in your portfolio questions your jud

if he fails to post the bond monday, it is on elie honig. we are counting down. we'll keep you close by and i'm john consultants coming up here. an empty witness chair, a putin mask, and witness testimony from prison yes, i am describing a congressional impeachment hearing today. welcome to capitol hill. i'll be joined by someone who had a front row seat to all of that craziness. but after a quick break this is the big game >> name who that do >> so i can take all these trips because priceline has all these amazing deals and that's when i said deal on your right is our jd deals are 30 or heavy price >> i love your dress >> thanks. >> i splurged a little because liberty mutual customized my car insurance and i saved hundreds. >> that's great. >> i know. right. i've been telling everyone did you hear that? i just said her first word. >> can you say mama >> never >> can you say on >> how many people did you tell? >> only pay for what you need >> sanders winter? let me say this now on for limited time visit, sandoz.com or call 2,000 sandals jazz. >> what if you could

conversation, the best-selling supreme court biographer jeffrey toobin, our cnn senior legal analyst, elie honig, and cardozo law school's jessica roth. jeff based on the oral arguments, not a shock. if you listen to the oral arguments, this is where the courts seem to be leaning that day so we always look for clues, right? number one, there, unanimous. that's rare, but that's rare especially for this court. number two, as the former president noted, there's he noted it in an inaccurate way, but there is the giant question of immunity still looming for the co2. we get any clues about tomorrow from what we read today. there was a paradox about today at the supreme court. there were unanimous, which is in controversial cases, unusual in this supreme court. however, there were some off justices there. you could just tell from the paper the opinions were written on the three the three justices didn't dissent. the three liberals, but they really went after the five for saying that forgiving a roadmap for how this law should be applied, instead of just saying, look what colorado was was did was wrong.

joan biskupic is on set with this as well as dana bash and elie honig joan, your sense of this? >> well, first of all, it's 90 to reverse the colorado supreme court. so former president donald trump will remain on the ballot and other state ballots. but the justices actually split on how far to go the majority decision written as a per curiam likely by the chief justice of the united states, because it's unsigned gives much more authority to congress about when someone should be disqualified and justices barrett, justice, and then the three liberals writes separately. and what's key here, it is, justices i'm listening to two different things. excuse me. a second >> seem to two different conversations, but i'll listen to our its first >> okay. this is an important part that even though they came out and gave us something unanimous, that's very useful in the political scheme, especially for tomorrow, for super tuesday. it shows how divided this for important still is because the three liberals broke off and said, you majority are going too far in terms of how you would dictate the

you want clarity. >> i just want to follow the news >> geoff, and elie honig. >> kara. thank for your time today. some of the former president's griping that you heard the top of the program about what he calls rogue judges. i may have been about his two new york cases, the civil fraud case. he lost the upcoming criminal trial later this month, there were new developments connected to both today through the trump organizations, former top finance guy allen weisselberg and his former attorney, michael cohen. cnn's kara scannell has been following all of those developments and joins us now, kara, what are we learn today? >> alan weisberg, longtime confidant of donald trump, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of perjury. this all relates to testimony he gave during the new york attorney general's civil fraud investigation into the trump organization. and when he testified at the trial last year, it has false statements relate to testimony about the size of trump's trip flex apartment at trump tower. it had been valid for years on the company's financial statements as thou

i also want to bring in cnn senior legal analyst, elie honig, pollster and communication strategies, frank lance and cnn's kara scannell, it feel i don't think any was better suited to understand the politics and the money cited this and you are with all your experience and reporting. but the legal side and the legal bills that donald trump has been shouldering. well is he really police shouldering them? how much or as donor is paying for his legal troubles? i love >> fec filings. how could you not he's not shouldering much, if any, at this point is laid bare in the fec filings, federal election commission filings just last night, save america pac. it's his leadership pac one of his fundraising vehicles. and the money that it has spent just in the last month, 5.6 million in 2023, alone, more than $50 and here's the irony of all that, because he is the presumptive nominee. now as a joint fundraising agreement with the republican national committee, they just announced today that when donors give the maximum amount up to that joint committee, first amount goes to trump's campaign commi

domestic correspondent phil mattingly and cnn senior legal analyst and former federal prosecutor, elie honig, laura, were talking about the ban payment that's come do just a few moments ago. but this hush money trial, it was scheduled to start today, but was delayed when prosecutors turned over what, 100,000 pages of do documents do we know anything about those? documents? and we were saying earlier, it sounds is that we're going to get a trial date set perhaps today in this hush money case. what does that mean? >> i mean, the irony, because everyone criticize the manhattan de alvin bragg for having the udacity to go first. they kept saying he leapfrogged of course, a special counsel and they wondered why he'd want to do that now it turns out he might be the only trial to actually go before a general election, after all is said and done. it's an important case, although it's very backward looking in terms of 2016 and the hush money payments case, the documents at issue are very important though, because they're going to claim and the trump side that you have violated discovery rules. i suppo

i do want to go now to elie honig this is what i'm reading in the language the prosecution of this case cannot proceed until the state selects one of two options. so very clear there he's saying you cannot go forward unless what one of you has to go, either the da with her the entire office, or nathan wade. this will be the easiest decision that is office has ever had to make. obviously, nathan wade will go and the judge in his ruling says, essentially this is necessary to preserve public confidence in this case. he says there's enough of an appearance there's enough of as he says, at one point, an odor of men udacity around this case. interesting phrase that something's got to be done to at least clean up the public said, yes, of men udacity, whatever that's mostly what you're talking thing was so messiness with michael moore saying this could have been nipped in the bud. >> again, it's really important to underscore here. the big takeaway, fani willis stays on the case. the da's office keeps the case. that case can carry on. that is far and away. the bold headline, they have survived

joining us down to discuss former federal prosecutor elie honig and elie, you've been predicting this exact outcome for months. was there anything in today's ruling that stuck out to you know, jake, i think when you take the politics out of this and you take the donald trump of it all out of this the result is fairly straightforward strictly on a legal and constitutional basis, and

i wanna bring in senior legal analyst, elie honig, and also carrie cordero carrie cordero. elie, how significant again is a witness like this for the prosecution, you think, you know, in any case as a prosecutor, anderson you always want a tour guide the, snippets, the kaitlan just played as you get a lot of insight into how things work, who reported to who, and also one of the big mysteries in this case as kaitlan said, how did these documents make their way from florida up to new jersey? so the other thing that i notice about this witness, and it's in the write-up that kaitlan collins and katelyn polantz did, is this winter this is not eager to get trump. there's a moment when he tells them something like, i realized as the fbi was questioning me that my information was going to be used against trump and i didn't like that, but i felt important to tell the truth and so as a prosecutor, i think that's a really important indicator of credibility >> and kerry, would prosecutors likely have some sort of a deal in place with butler, this well, he hasn't been charged, so i think

. >> kaitlan, stay with someone we're gonna senior legal analyst, elie honig, and also carry a cardillo. carrie cordero. elie, how significant? is a witness like this for the prosecution, you think, you know, in any case as a prosecutor, anderson, you always want to tour guide. you want someone who can take you inside a closed world like this one. this is the inner workings of mar-a-lago. and even from the snippets that kaitlan just played as you get a lot of insight into how things work, who reported to who, and also one of the big mysteries in this case as kaitlan said how did these documents make their way from florida up to new jersey? so the other thing that i noticed about this witness and it's in the write-up that kaitlan collins and katelyn polantz did. is this witness is not eager to get trump. there's a moment when he tells them something like, i realized as the fbi was questioning me, that my information was going to be used against trump and i was i didn't like that, but i felt important to tell the truth. and so as a prosecutor, i think that's really important indicator of

indeed, elie honig, do you think the defense attorneys bet the burden needed for fani willis to be disqualified? >> well, if this is going to be a really close call and you used a really important word right there burden, it is the defendant's donald trump and the other people who are challenging fani willis, who have to prove their allegations. so if this is a tie, if this is a stalemate, fani willis is going to win. now, i think there have been serious questions raised about the nature of the relationship, the timing of the relationship, whether fani willis and nathan wade testified truthfully and whether there was a financial benefit to fani willis, but the evidence came in in my view, in a very muddled sort of confused fashion. and it's going to come down to the judge's decision. the judges discretion which evidence does he believe? does he believe fani? willis and nathan wade? does he believe the other witnesses? does he how much credit does he give this cell records? that's a really exceedingly difficult call. you could see the judge today starting to wrestle with some of those issues. so

conversation right now, joining us now, the former federal prosecutor and cnn senior legal analyst, elie honig, also with us. see this chief legal affairs correspondent, paula reid, and cnn national correspondent, kristen holmes has been doing a lot of reporting on all of this. if the judge, elie decides to remove her from this case, what happens? >> well, it's a major setback for the case, perhaps a permanent setback for the case. so here's what happens. >> because >> fani willis is the district attorney, her entire office would be disqualified if a normal prosecutor, a lower level one, like i was getting disqualified, you just plug in the next person down the hall, but she's the boss. so her whole office would be disqualified, then the case goes over to this independent prosecutor counsel that nick just referenced. and what they do from then on is highly unknown, just as one point of reference, wolf, there was a point in 2022 during the investigation of this case where fani willis was disqualified, she subpoenaed somebody and then attended a fundraiser for that person's political opponent. a

joining me now is legal analyst elie honig and senior correspondent carrots canal >> was >> this limitedis expected? >> so it's interesting, this process, the prosecution made this request a month ago and the judges had it fully briefed for three weeks and he's made other findings on other motions in that time period, but he waited until today to do it and he noted in his gag order statements that trump made yesterday after the hearing at 40 wall street, where he criticized by name one of the prosecutors in the case mathew colangelo's easily one of the lead attorneys. and it it was after that that the judge issues this gag order also after trump had made comments about the judge in his daughter on social media. but this will not cover the judge it based on the reading of the order, doesn't appear to cover his daughter either, but the judge saying that he was taking all of trump's statements many of the ones that we just played in totality and his view of it it was he said that these extra judicial statements went far beyond defending himself against attacks by public figures. indeed, a s

and joining me now, cnn, senior legal analyst, elie honig. so le he hasn't posted the bond, although end he said he didn't have the money or no guarantee the money, but then he came out today and said he actually had more than enough to pay it. so there's all that >> i love the look of skepticism on your face. >> is there anything that could happen though alley between now and monday that could that could prevent him from having to come up with this well, you know me well, erin, there are two potential outs left for donald trump here as we head into the weekend, one perhaps he can scrape up the cash. he needs. we remember he is now much richer on paper that he was a few hours ago because of the public offering of truth social stock. the problem is he can't access that value, right? the way so maybe some third person comes forward, maybe he finds it in his couch cushions. who knows, maybe he comes up with the money. the other potential out is let's remember, he has asked the appeals court in new york to either delay or reduce that bond. we've