Trump Georgia hearing drama as Fani Willis testifies: Live

Fani Willis accuses prosecution of ‘lying’ as she takes stand

There was a dramatic moment in court on Thursday when Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis dropped her objection to a subpoena and testified. Judge Scott McAfee had already heard testimony from prosecutor Nathan Ward with whom Ms Willis had a relationship.

Knowledge of the couple’s time together led to the hearing to disqualify them brought by defendants in the sprawling racketeering case concerning Donald Trump’s efforts to interfere with the results of the 2020 election in Georgia.

Ms Willis repeatedly called out “lies” told by the lawyers for the defendants, noting that it was their clients who were actually “on trial for trying to steal an election in 2020” and not her.

Meanwhile, Mr Trump appeared in court in New York for a pre-trial conference on Thursday morning as part of Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg’s case alleging that he knowingly falsified business records in 2016 in order to conceal “hush money” payments made on his behalf to porn star Stormy Daniels.

After the former president raged at the basis of the trial, Judge Juan Merchan swiftly denied his motion to dismiss the case and set jury selection for 25 March.

As former president Donald Trump prepares for four trials on a total of 91 criminal charges in four separate jurisdictions, the disgraced, twice-impeached ex-chief executive is lashing out with new demands for his allies in Congress.

Mr Trump, who routinely and falsely accuses President Joe Biden of masterminding the prosecutions against him in New York and Georgia state courts, as well as two other sets of federal criminal charges in Washington, DC and Florida, called on his Republican friends in the House of