Trump’s ‘prospects for prevailing’ in getting GA case dismissed are ‘slim to none’

and we begin in Georgia, where a judge is about to convene a hearing in this wide-ranging election interference

case

against Donald Trump and his allies. It's the first since proceedings were in limbo over a motion to dismiss Fton County District Attorney Fonny Willis and since several charges were filed. actually

dismissed

in the

case

I want to bring in MSNBC legal correspondent Lisa Rubin also former Georgia federal prosecutor Amy Lee Copeland and former US attorney Harry Litman So, Lisa, what exactly is this hearing today about? So, José, we have a number of motions regarding the impeachment that have not yet been addressed by Judge Scott McAfee, that is in large part because for over two months Judge McAfee was dealing with the motion to disqualify da fonny Willis.

Today's motions address President Trump's assertion of his First Amendment rights and, in particular, to say that The allegations in the impeachment concern his right to have central political speech, that they are trying to criminalize his right to say the election was stolen from him, but they are not in themselves emblematic of criminal conduct in his name and Lisa, where is the case? standing now I mean we weren't sure if this was going to continue some time ago we were and Jose we were also we weren't sure if it would continue with who would continue now that we know that da Willis is still in control of the case we will get to the point that he will ask the judge Scott McAfee to set a trial date.

He has so far insisted that a trial be held for all defendants who remain at a particular point in the pretrial process. He has said June should be the deadline. for any defendant who wants to reach a deal with the Fton County District Attorney's Office to do so and that the trial should take place in August last week, in public comments she doubled down on her claim that she wants a trial to be held. trial this summer, let's see if Representatives from your office, Andor, the district attorney herself, try to make that part of today's hearing.

It's not formally on the agenda that Judge McAfee has set for today's hearing, so as we watch this footage live from Atlanta, that hearing has begun and I'm Lee as Lisa was referencing that we still haven't received a hearing date. start, when could we expect that and to what extent did this motion to dismiss Willis delay things here? Well, José, good morning, let me answer the second question first because I think it is the easiest. It is currently working its way through an application process to the Georgia Court of Appeals. In a couple of months we should know whether or not the Georgia appeals court will hear this disqualification motion.

If they do, that could lead to an opinion sometime in November at the earliest that would actually delay the trial date because while Judge Mcy said he's not going to stay anything other than the disqualification motion, who can judge a case certainly seems to go to the disqualification motion and decide if they can establish the case itself, but the DA has always said that she is ready to go and I have no doubt about it, she said she only needs 30 days. Today at the hearing we will also hear a lot about First Amendment claims, just as a reminder of these.

They have been roundly rejected by several courts. Judge Chuin rejected it in the January 6 case in an earlier First Amendment challenge by defendants in this case who pleaded guilty. Judge McAfee said some of these things need to be addressed at trial, so I don't expect The defendants will get much traction with their first amendment motion today, so Amy, could we say that maybe this case is already back on track ? I hope he's back on track, he needs to get back on track, um, a lot, although it depends on what the little ball says. The court is going to do it and like I said, we're waiting for a 45 to 60 day decision, so Harry, does Trump have any chance of dismissing this entire case?

No, not today, look just like Lisa said this has existed. the curve in many different courts and before this, his crimes, of course, can be committed through speech, many are like conspiracy and solicitation and, uh, the exhortation that he made on the ellipse on January 6th that does not protect them for the First Amendment, it's very The strong line that the Supreme Court has drawn between legal political speech and illegal solicitation or illegal conspiracy or illegal Rico as is the coure charge in this case and I think it's just that McAfee wants to get back on track, it's a kind of basic job. a one day motion and maybe that's why he chose it now to put the proceedings back in order but the chances of

prevailing

here are

slim

to

none

so Lisa I mean what does the judge have the authority to do or not. do today so that José can reject some of these pre-Tri motions to dismiss the court's indictment in whole or in part.

He could also reserve judgment on him and say we'll see where he goes in an opinion written by future Judge McAfee overall. He hasn't ruled from the bench in this case, but that doesn't mean he hasn't given us an indication of which way he's leaning. My instinct is that today he will let us know how he feels and telegraph to us what he is going to do with these motions. I agree with Harry that these motions are not likely to eliminate all or part of the case, but we will probably have to wait for a written opinion. of him and, of course, he has many other pretrial motions to resolve.

The most notable of which is a motion to dismiss former President Trump on the grounds of presidential immunity. Judge McAfee, of course, can hold off responding to that motion until after April 25, when the Supreme Court holds oral argument on President Trump's efforts to ditch the federal election interference case on the same grounds. Hello everyone, MSNBC has a new and improved app. You'll get real-time alerts on analysis, live blogs, in-depth essays, video highlights and the best coverage of the 2024 election. Download the new MSNBC app. Here's how to do it. you tap the App Store on your phone you press search in the bottom right corner you type MSNBC you click on the MSNBC app you click get or the cloud icon and enjoy it