Trump DA seeks gag order after ‘violent rhetoric and public attacks’: Live

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and lead prosecutor Nathan Wade have been accused of having an improper relationship that has financially benefited from Trump’s prosecution for election interference.

Attorneys for Donald Trump and his co-defendants are expected to deliver closing arguments on Friday in a parallel case to remove from the prosecution altogether, after a revealing two-day hearing lay bare the circumstances of their relationship and the allegations against them.

After a court filing sought to show that their relationship was much older than they had testified, Trump’s lead attorney reportedly told the DA’s office that he had mistakenly shared unredacted phone records with a reporter, who did not publish the records.

But Ms Willis and Mr Wade have had to change their phone numbers because of an “explosion” of calls in recent days, according to CNN.

Trump’s attorneys are appealing a $454m judgment against the former president after a sprawling civil trial found him liable for a decade of fraud in his family business.

Lawyers for Trump and his co-defendants filed paperwork with a New York appellate court on Monday, arguing that the judge overseeing the case “committed errors” of law or facts, “abused its discretion” and “acted in excess of its jurisdiction”.

But the ruling against him won’t be paused until the former president and his co-defendants post a bond equal to the massive judgment against them.

If a bond is not posted within a 30-day period from the judgment, New York Attorney General Letitia James can begin seizing his assets.

Donald Trump is demanding Alabama lawmakers “act quickly to find an immediate solution” to protect in vitro fertilization in the wake of a shock state supreme court ruling that forced hospital systems and IVF clinics to halt treatments, while throwing doctors and families into legal chaos.

But at this weekend’s CPAC and elsewhere, conservatives were praising the ruling.

The Independent’s Eric Garcia talks to attendees at the conference:

Meanwhile, here’s the view from the Trump universe – and how President Joe Biden and Democratic officials are seizing on the aftermath:

Allies of Donald Trump and his now-former rival Ron DeSantis have continued to trade insults over the past week even as the former president has turned his focus burying Nikki Haley, his last remaining rival for the GOP nomination.

The Florida governor appears eager to target Trump’s image among Republicans, including on a conference call with delegates pledged to his campaign as part of the primary process. On that call, DeSantis brushed off speculation that Trump was considering him as a possible running mate – and reportedly suggested that he wasn’t interested either.

The Independent’s John Bowden has more:

Donald Trump is all but guaranteed to be the Republican nominee for president. The recent Conservative Political Action Conference offered a glimpse into who could fill his potential administration.

The Independent’s Eric Garcia and Holly Baxter report:

A former FBI informant – accused of laundering Russian disinformation after he was charged with lying about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter – has been ordered to stay in jail.

After midterm election failures, a cash crunch likely to be squeezed by Trump to pay off his legal bills, and a voter base that is fully backing the former president, the Republican National Committee is poised for new leadership with the departure of Ronna McDaniel.

She will step down after Super Tuesday.

The former president has already endorsed a slate of new leadership for the party’s chief organ, with North Carolina Republican Party chair and election denier Michael Whatley as chair, and his daughter-in-law Lara Trump as a co-chair – solidifying the GOP’s MAGA takeover.

Over the course of Donald Trump’s hush money case, there have been “credible threats of violence, harassment, and intimidation directed at the District Attorney, his staff, and the District Attorney’s Office,” with “hundreds of threats in the wake of, and connected to, [Mr Trump’s] public attacks,” according to prosecutors.

But the agency’s threat assessment unit logged “an extraordinary surge in threat activity that began on the very day [Trump] began targeting the District Attorney, members of the District Attorney’s staff, and this Office with his violent rhetoric and public attacks,” according to prosecutors.

The unit logged 89 threats against the district attorney, his family or employees of his office in 2023, the first of which occurred the same day that the former president called on his supporters to “protest” and “take our nation back,” the filing states.

Police reviewed 600 threatening phone calls and emails in March of last year alone, as the office prepared to indict the former president.

When the final judgment in the sprawling fraud trial against Trump, his adult sons and former Trump Organization employees was approved on Friday, the state attorney general’s X account posted the exact figure down to the last cent.

Twenty four hours later, her account wrote: “+$114,553.04”.

The total owed back to the state among all the defendants – money that is effectively forfeited as “ill-gotten gains” – amounts to roughly $364m, plus at least $100m in interest.

The interest on Trump’s portion of a final judgment comes to more than $112,000 each day.

His attorneys are appealing.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office is asking a criminal court judge to impose a limited gag order against Donald Trump, citing his “long history” of “inflammatory” remarks aimed at the parties involved in his mountain of litigation.

A 30-page filing on Monday cites his threatening social media posts – including a photo he posted that depicts him wielding a baseball bat at the back of District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s head.