Fani Willis fires back at misconduct claims in Trump Georgia case: Highlights

Merchant said she has two more witnesses. Cross, who has three or four witnesses, including Willis' father, said she expects witness testimony to last roughly four or five hours tomorrow.

Questioning of Willis for the day ended shortly after 5 p.m.

She will be back on the stand tomorrow. The hearing is scheduled to resume at 9 a.m.

When asked by Harry MacDougald, who represents Trump co-defendant Jeffrey Clark, about the requirement that she disclose gifts over $100, Willis said she never received gifts from Wade other than him paying for dinner.

After a line of questioning about whether Wade and Willis' relationship ended before Willis indicted Trump in the summer of 2023, Willis told Sadow that she and Wade frequently argued over splitting costs.

Earlier on the stand, Willis made clear that she and Wade generally split the costs of trips and food.

"A man is not a plan, a man is a companion," Willis told Sadow, adding, "I don't need anyone to foot my bills. The only man who has ever footed my bills completely is my daddy."

Earlier in the day, when Wade was on the stand, he alluded to the fact that Willis valued her independence, which is what led to her reimbursing him when he paid for travel.

Willis says that her romantic relationship with Wade began sometime in between February and April 2022, months after she appointed him in November 2021.

When asked about people staying or living at the condo, Willis said that very few people visited her, saying it "was a very lonely period of my life."

Opposing lawyers have pushed Willis on whether Wade visited her at the condo or lived with her. Willis said she had few visitors at that condo.

"This is a very isolating job," Willis said. "I turned 50 in 2021 and that was probably one of the worst birthdays I've had."

In response to repeated questions from Steve Sadow, Trump's attorney, about whether or not Willis' children lived in her home while she lived in a separate condo, Willis tells him, "You don’t have to yell at me. I’m able to understand.”

Steve Sadow, a lawyer for Trump, opened his questioning of Willis by saying that he was going to ask her questions "she could actually respond to."

Willis replied jokingly that her "comprehension skills are pretty good, so we'll see." They were seemingly poking fun at Merchant and Willis' combative exchanges.

After the break, Judge McAfee told the court that many lawyers were present and that they had been taught to display values of professionalism and integrity.

During Willis' testimony, he gave her a warning and told her to answer questions directly.

“I have to caution that we have to listen to the questions and if this happens again and again, I’m gonna have no choice but to strike your testimony,” McAfee said.

In response to questions by Merchant, Willis said that she and Wade never lived together despite court filings that were submitted that stated otherwise.

“It’s certainly a lie that he lived with me,” Willis said.

The judge presiding over Trump's federal classified documents case in Florida issued a ruling denying the former president's request to push back some deadlines in the case.

In a brief order posted on the court docket, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon rejected Trump's request to push back the deadline for pretrial motions, which is Feb. 22.

The judge did not completely close the door to subsequent filings, saying she would consider "appropriate" motions afterward if they "clearly justify additional pre-trial briefing."

Willis has been clearly annoyed with Merchant's questions so far during the hearing, and has raised her voice at times and gone on at length with her answers, beyond the questions that are asked.

Sadow objected to Willis using the term "lie" and Willis fired back, holding up the motion to disqualify.

"This is a lie!" Willis yelled.

McAfee then announced a five-minute break.

When asked about her relationship with Wade, Willis said that she thought their relationship now was one that would fade with time if not for this incident. Now due to the attacks, Willis said that she and Wade would be "friends until the day we die."

Merchant said the DA’s office objected to providing her with Delta records regarding travel involving Willis and Wade. 

“I object to you getting records," Willis said. "You’ve been intrusive into people’s personal lives. You’re confused. You think I’m on trial. These people are on trial for trying to steal an election in 2020. I’m not on trial, no matter how hard you try to put me on trial."

As Merchant continues questioning Willis about her trips with Wade, Willis describes drinking wine in Napa, California, saying Wade "likes wine. I don’t really like wine to be honest with you. I like Grey Goose."

Willis said the most cash she ever gave Wade was $2,500 for a trip the two took to Belize.

Willis said that Wade, whom she described as a "world traveler," often booked their travel together through an agent and she would reimburse him.

"He is the one that would book the travel," Willis said. "I don't consider him having taken me anyplace."

"I want this record to be abundantly clear," Willis continued, detailing how Wade would often call his travel agent who would organize their travel arrangements "and then he tells me how much it is, and I give him the money back."

Merchant asked Willis about where the money comes from that she gives to Wade to reimburse him for travel.

"I am sure that the source of the money is always the work, sweat and tears of me," Willis said.

Willis is asked where she got the cash to pay Wade for travel costs, and she explained she wasn't making withdrawals because she generally has cash accessible to her in her home. She said her father told her to keep six months of money in cash at home at all times.

“I always have cash at the house. That’s been all my life,” she said.

“If you’re a woman and you go on a date with a man, you better have $200 in your pocket. So if that man acts up, you can go where you want to go,” she added.

Willis said she has known Yeartie, who testified earlier about Willis and Wade's relationship, for more than 30 years and ran into her about 10 years ago.

“I certainly do not consider her a friend now. I think that she, you know, there’s a saying, 'No good deed goes unpunished,' and I think that she betrayed our friendship,” Willis said.

Willis said her dad begged her to leave her home because of the threats she was receiving for this case. It just so happened that Yeartie wanted to move out of her condo at the same time, so Willis moved into that place.

Willis expressed anger after she said to Merchant, "I think in one of your motions you tried to implicate that I slept with [Wade] at that conference which I find to be extremely offensive."

"Ms. Merchant's interests are contrary to democracy," Willis said.

In some of her first remarks from the witness stand, Willis accuses Merchant of lying in her motion.

"It seems today that a lawyer writes a lie, and then it’s printed for all of the world to see," Willis said.

Willis said she was anxiously waiting to testify at the hearing and was "pacing" around her office while other witnesses spoke to the court.

“I did hear the arguments this morning. It’s ridiculous to me that you lied on Monday and yet here we still are,” Willis said.

Willis has taken the stand and begun to testify.

The court takes a five-minute break while Merchant makes copies of some exhibits that Willis wants to refer to during her testimony.

"I'll sit here and wait for them," she said.

Willis enters the courtroom. She says she’s willing to testify.

“I want to go,” she said. She’s dropping the motion to quash.

Wade is done. Merchant calls Willis to the stand. Merchant says there’s conflicting testimony that Willis can clear up about when the relationship started, among other things.

Cross objects and says Merchant "has identified areas of inquiry, not inconsistencies."

In 2020 and a portion of 2021, Wade was battling cancer and said the Covid pandemic kept him from leaving sterile environments. So, he says, he didn't date Willis — or anyone at all.

During cross-examination, Wade testified that 99% of his work in 2022 was on the election interference case.

He said that his monthly income in 2022 was $14,000. In 2023, his monthly income was $9,000. Wade says his income has decreased, even after he began to hit his cap on billable hours (meaning he could no longer get paid for the hours he worked).

"This invoice makes me cry," he said. "There’s so many hours here that I worked at I couldn’t, I couldn’t get paid for," Wade said. He says he can’t just stop working when he hits his cap.

Asked to look at another invoice with more nonbillable hours, he said, "If I was gonna get a benefit" from his relationship with the DA, "I'd like that benefit."

Wade is asked if he filed for divorce on Nov. 2, 2021, one day after he was hired as a special prosecutor on the Fulton election interference case.

He says after his wife had an affair in 2015, they agreed they’d stay together until their youngest child graduated high school. The reason he formally filed for divorce on the day he did, he says his wife was only in town briefly. There’s an attorney/client privilege objection.

Wade says he’ll answer. “Joycelyn had relocated to Texas and was in Texas for months. She was only here for a brief period of time to drive our daughter’s car back with her," he said. She was served at that time, he said.

He says it was purely coincidental that the divorce was formally filed on the day after he signed his contract with the county.

Sadow, Trump's lawyer, asked Wade when he broke up with Willis.

Wade said it was about summer 2023, and estimated it was around June.

"Forgive me, I'm a man. We don't do the date thing," he said.

He also said they have not had sexual intercourse since they split up, but they are close friends. "Probably closer than ever because of these attacks," Wade said.

Gillen and Wade spar over an invoice from Nov. 5, 2021, where Wade billed 24 hours for preparing cases for pretrial.

Gillen repeatedly claims that the invoice shows Wade billing 24 hours of work in one single day. Wade says he never billed 24 hours of work in one day and the invoices were billed by the date they were completed. So 24 hours billed can be spread across multiple dates.

Gillen pressed Wade about cash that Willis paid Wade as part of a trip to Belize in March 2023. Gillen asked if Wade went with Willis to an ATM. Wade said Willis had cash already.

"So when she would give you the cash, did you have a little place in your house where you stack up all this cash that you apparently got to repay you for these benefits that you bestowed on her?" Gillen asked.

Wade took issue with the line of questioning: "If I answer that, I'm putting myself in jeopardy. If I tell the world that I have cash someplace in my home, let's think that that could be problematic."

He said sometimes they would have the cash on the trips and he would spend it and sometimes they would put it in the hotel safe.

“The only special place that the cash would have gone would have been one of my children,” Wade said.

Craig Gillen, the lawyer for Trump co-defendant David Shafer, repeatedly pressed Wade to clear up language he used in his answers from an interrogatory from his divorce.

Gillen asked Wade if he had sexual relations with Willis before May 2023. One of the prosecutors from the district attorney's office objected several times but the judge overruled.

McAfee said he wants Gillen to establish what Wade said in the interrogatory before moving on and said that "words matter" and they need to establish what did or didn't happen. Wade said he answered no on the interrogatory.

"Let’s just get down to it. Did you or did you not by May 30, 2023, have sexual relations with Miss Willis, yes or no?" Gillen asked.

"Yes or no? Yes," Wade said.

The hearing resumed just after 1 p.m. ET.

Judge McAfee announced that they are taking a 45-minute break, with a planned return at 1 p.m. ET.

When asked about who paid for their trips, Wade said that Willis insisted on splitting costs, saying that she is a "strong, proud woman" and that her independence was at times a point of contention in their relationship.

Wade clarifies they didn't always split every individual purchase 50/50; there were times when he would book flights and she would pay for excursions.

Merchant asserted that Wade was paid $300,000 by Fulton County in 2022, which Wade disputes.

He says that the law firm was paid $300,000, but that money didn't go directly into his pocket.

Wade is testifying that any money paid to his law firm first was used to pay firm expenses, then was split between Wade and his partners.

Merchant asked a series of questions about Wade and Willis taking trips together.

Merchant said Wade alleged that Willis paid for one flight. He says that’s not true, that they split costs roughly evenly. There’s a distinction between booking a flight and paying for a flight, he said.

He said Willis booked only one flight. He booked the others.

Willis reimbursed him in cash, Wade said.

Merchant asked Wade to share whether he is in possession of any receipts from travel with Willis. In response, Wade argued that he doesn't have any receipts, but he does have credit card statements, which he uses for his taxes.

In response to a line of questioning by Merchant, Wade said that his relationship with Willis began in March 2022.

Wade said that he first met Willis in 2019 at a judicial conference where he was teaching a course. He said the next time they spoke was about a month or so later, on the phone.

Addressing cameras after the hearing, Trump reiterated his allegations of bias in the case, calling New York "a rigged state, a rigged city." He lamented that he was "going to have to sit here for months on trial" but that he would "campaign in the evenings."

He also addressed his controversial comments on NATO, saying that European countries were more reliant on the pact that the U.S. because "we have an ocean in between." He accused countries of laughing "at the stupidity of the United States of America" for continuing to fund the alliance.

Moving on to Wade’s recently filed affidavit saying that he and Willis’ relationship did not begin until after his hiring as special prosecutor.

In the divorce case in May 2023, he said he had not had an affair.

Wade says his marriage was broken in 2015 but they didn’t get a divorce because his children were in school. After he dropped his daughter off for college, he filed for divorce. So, he doesn't consider it an affair because the marriage was broken and he was free to date other people.

He reiterates that he doesn't have any travel receipts for his trips with Willis. He says he uses his business card for everything.

Wade said in response to Merchant's question that he doesn't have receipts from the times he traveled with Willis.

Wade said he traveled with Willis in 2023 and 2022. He said he does not recall traveling with Willis in 2021.

Merchant asked Wade about a December 2023 interrogatory where he noted that he did not have any tangible evidence of his relationship with Willis and that he did not have any receipts from gifts or travel with Willis.

Merchant also pointed out that in a subsequent January 2024 interrogatory, Wade changed his answer to those questions. Wade says he changed his answers to assert privacy privilege, after Merchant filed a motion in early January about Willis and Wade's relationship.

Wade says he asserted privacy privilege after the motion was filed because he thought that Merchant was talking to his wife’s attorneys.

Merchant tried to ask about a judge holding Wade in willful contempt in his divorce proceeding.

Merchant said it’s relevant, but McAfee disagreed and sustained the DA office’s objection.

The New York hush money hearing has concluded — with Judge Merchan telling the courtroom he will see them in March.

Blanche then said the defense “vehemently objects to what is happening in this courtroom,” adding that Trump will spend the next two months preparing for the hush money trial during his presidential campaign.

“It is just not something that should happen in this country,” Blanche said.

Judge McAfee shot down a request by Merchant to keep Durante Partridge, Yeartie's attorney, on Zoom, because she said Partridge was the one who told her that Yeartie and Willis had lived together.

Yeartie and Partridge said more than a handful of times during the hearing that the two never lived together. Willis had sublet Yeartie's condo.

Prosecution lawyer Joshua Steinglass says the defense team for Trump has not turned over a single exhibit in contrast to the 336 exhibits produced by the prosecution.

The two sides then argued over whether the defense is obligated to turn over any exhibits before trial.

Yeartie said she observed Willis and Wade together prior to November 2021 doing things that were common for those in romantic relationships. “Hugging, kissing, just affection.”

Willis said in an affidavit that their relationship began after Wade was appointed special counsel in 2022.

The district attorney's office asked Judge McAfee to reconsider their motion to quash Nathan Wade's subpoena, which McAfee subsequently denied.

Now, Wade will take the stand.

After Merchan mentioned that a couple of issues such as courtroom logistics remain, Steinglass asked if anything can be done about the small tables in the courtroom.

Merchan asked if more room is needed, saying, “We can do that.”

Steinglass then asked about the technical aspects and a room where boxes of documents could be stored.

Merchan told Steinglass to send him the list of witnesses before the trial and that he asked both sides to put together a one-paragraph narrative to give to the jurors.

Blanche asked that potential jurors be asked about their political affiliations in jury selection, saying it was "an instructive way to see if they could be fair and impartial."

Yeartie appears to have left the district attorney's office on bad terms, and she said she is no longer friends with Willis. She said they haven't spoken since 2022.

“A situation happened that wasn’t really my fault,” Yeartie said, referring to her work in the district attorney's office. She said she was given a choice to resign or be fired, and the situation ended their friendship.

Richard Rice, an attorney for another defendant, Robert Cheeley, asked Yeartie about any social trips Willis and Wade took together. Yeartie said she did not know of any.

When asked, Yeartie also said she did not know anything about Wade and Willis staying overnight together.

In response to questions from Anna Cross, a lawyer for the district attorney's office, Yeartie says that she never had knowledge of Willis and Wade living together. She also says that Willis paid her own rent.

Yeartie said she knew a romantic relationship between Willis and Wade started in 2019 and continued until she last spoke with Willis in 2022. She said she was good friends with Willis at the time.

Yeartie said she saw Willis and Wade interact and understood their relationship to be romantic.

Merchant and Abbate argued over possible testimony from Robin Yeartie, who used to work for the Fulton County district attorney's office. She now runs a travel agency.

Durante Partridge, Yeartie's lawyer, said it was represented to him that Bradley’s testimony would provide the bridge to Yeartie. Rejecting a claim from Merchant, Partridge said Willis and Wade never lived together. Yeartie had sublet a place to Willis, he said.

Abbate said Merchant represented that the good faith basis is that she learned about the relationship between Willis and Wade from Bradley.

McAfee denied Yeartie’s motion to quash the subpoena and that they’ll take it witness by witness.

Robin Yeartie, a former staffer in the district attorney's office and longtime friend of Willis, is taking the stand.

Terrence Bradley has been dismissed for now.

Steinglass, prosecutor from the district attorney’s office, and Blanche are going over questions that might be in dispute in the jury questionnaire.

Steinglass read aloud a question that asks jurors about what news platforms they consume, saying that the question is which websites to include on the list. Some examples include The New York Times, USA Today, CNN, MSNBC, the New York Post, The Washington Post, Fox News, News Max, Truth Social and TikTok. He added conservative hosts such as Tucker Carlson, Alex Jones and Fox News’ Sean Hannity.

Blanche argued that “extraordinarily conservative shows” were added to “target Trump” and that they can come up “with a bunch of liberal shows” such as MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow to “give all of us an assessment of the juror.”

Merchan said he will see how he can resolve this issue. Blanch replied that there is “a lot more liberal news out there.”

Trump lawyer Steve Sadow says there’s no such law that would prevent Bradley from saying anything about Wade after 2018. Chopra says it’s not just anything. They’re talking about something associated with representation during Wade’s divorce.

"We’re not saying that you can’t ask about, did Mr. Wade enjoy a beer at the ballgame. That wasn’t the question," he said.

McAfee seems skeptical about the District Attorney's argument that any conversations between Wade and Bradley about Wade and Willis' relationship are privileged.

“I think he’s taking the position that he’s not willing to share anything Mr. Wade ever told him, period, which that’s a broader representation of attorney-client privilege than I’ve ever heard," McAfee said.

Merchant asked if Bradley had knowledge about Willis' and Wade's relationship starting in 2019. Bradley said he was advised by the bar that he can’t reveal anything he saw or learned, “and that if the court is asking me to do that, then an immediate certificate of review should be asked." Bradley added that he did not want to lose his law license.

Judge Merchan maintained that he does not want to violate Trump’s constitutional rights as he said the start date of March 25 for the trial will proceed.

Merchan then listed other upcoming deadlines in the case:

• Motion for limine, related to admission of evidence, is due Feb. 22.
• Replies are due Feb. 29.
• Defense claims are due no later than March 7.
• Motion to quash is still pending.

Bradley's attorney again objects to questions about what Bradley observed in his personal relationship with Wade. Specifically, Merchant asked about when Wade and Willis' relationship began.

"We can’t talk about Mr. Wade on any level. It would be inappropriate," Bradley's lawyer tells Judge McAfee.

Merchant responds, saying privilege doesn’t apply to observations.

Abbate, the lawyer for the district attorney's team, objected to Merchant's question about when Wade approached Bradley about filing for divorce.

Judge McAfee shot down the objection.

Blanche cited the media coverage of the E. Jean Carroll case as being potentially prejudicial in this case, saying that Carroll went on "a media blitz."

Merchan asked him if he "thinks the media will die down by then." This got laughter from the courtroom.

Asked by Merchant when he first met Wade, Bradley says he’s known Wade since 1998 and started a law firm together around 2010.

Bradley said that he left that law firm around August or September 2022.

The judge has ordered his trial to proceed as scheduled next month.

“We will move ahead with jury selection on March 25th.”

Read the full story here.

Abbate and Bradley's attorney Bimal Chopra are objecting to Merchant's questions, citing attorney/client privilege.

Merchant says privilege applies only to communications in furtherance of legal advice.

Bradley's attorney continues asking for a sidebar with the judge, rather than continuing to object to Bradley's testimony.

McAfee tells the lawyers that, “I haven’t heard anything about a relationship about an attorney-client relationship, about a privilege ever attaching. And I think that’s going to need to be established before we can actually determine the scope of it, and whether this falls inside or out of it.”

Terrence Bradley, Wade's former law partner who also represented him for a time in his divorce proceedings, will testify first.

The DA's office is expected to raise attorney/client privilege issues during his testimony.

Colangelo called the Trump team's attempts to delay the trial "a continued pattern to evade accountability," pointing to their multiple previous attempts to push back the case.

There’s at least one prominent clergy member here in support of Willis in the packed courtroom, a bishop of Georgia's AME churches.

During the heated exchange about the schedule for the trial moving forward, Judge Merchan told Blanche, "Stop interrupting me."

Judge McAfee asks Merchant to call her first witness. First witness is Robin Yeartie, but Yeartie hadn't arrived yet when she was called.

The judge tried to get Yeartie's attorney, Mr. Partridge, on the Zoom call, but he did not appear to be in the Zoom room.

It's unclear who will be called now.

Amid a heated exchange between Merchan and Blanche on the scheduling of a trial date in the hush money case, Trump is sitting motionless and stone-faced while staring at the judge.

Trump lawyer Todd Blanche argued that starting the trial on March 25 is a “great injustice” given that the former president faces other legal battles in addition to the hush money case.

Blanche noted that there is a “completely different landscape now” compared to the last time Trump’s team appeared before Judge Merchan, citing Trump’s indictments in three separate cases that require “different faces and different series of proof” as well as “millions of pages to discovery to go through.”

Blanche argued that Trump has a “right to prepare for a criminal trial” but that he has a “extremely compressed schedule” for each of the trials he faces. He stressed that Trump and his legal team are “put in an impossible situation” and that they didn’t want to have this conference today.

Before heading into the courtroom, Trump pointed to other crimes while repeating his allegations that the legal cases against him are an attempt at “election interference” amid his presidential campaign.

Trump griped that “violent crime is at an all-time high” while maintaining that he did not commit a crime in the hush money case.

“I look outside, I look at the streets. It’s so different from when I left New York. It’s so different. It’s dirty and it’s crime-ridden,” he said. “And today you walk down the street and get mugged or you get shot.”

Judge Merchan has begun the proceedings by denying a motion Trump made seeking to dismiss the charges.

Judge Juan Merchan has taken the bench.

Judge McAfee says that witnesses should wait outside and refrain from watching livestreams.

Trump entered the courtroom around 9:30 a.m.

Court is in session and Judge Scott McAfee is on the bench.

Former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin is also here sitting near the DA’s team. She posted an Instagram post last week in support of Willis.

Harrison Floyd, a former Trump campaign staffer who is a co-defendant in the case, walked into the courtroom and took a seat near Franklin. “I didn’t know they let supermodels in here," he said.

David Shafer, one of Trump's co-defendants in the case, is here with his attorney, Craig Gillen. They’re sitting at the defense table alongside Ashleigh Merchant and her husband, John.

Nathan Wade and the DA’s team just showed up. Bill Cromwell, who represents another one of the defendants, is sitting in front of me and tells me the first witness is up to the judge. But the lawyers would like to call Wade first.

At the prosecution table are Susan Hoffinger, Chris Conroy, Matt Colangelo, Rebecca Mangold and Josh Steinglass.

The former president has attacked Colangelo in the past because he came from the Justice Department and previously worked with Bragg.

Steinglass is a well-respected trial lawyer who was brought onto the team that tried the Trump Organization criminal tax fraud case in the fall of 2022 and has remained a part of the Trump investigations team.

Prosecutor Steven Wu is sitting in the front row. He argued yesterday at the Court of Appeals in Albany, N.Y., against Harvey Weinstein who is seeking to overturn his sexual assault verdict. Weinstein remains in jail in upstate New York.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has entered the courtroom. He is seated in the public gallery with his team.

Trump has arrived at the courthouse in lower Manhattan and entered the building a few minutes ago, an official outside of the court said.

Reporters lined up overnight in frigid temperatures to get a seat in the courtroom for this historic event, the first criminal prosecution of a former president.

Trump will enter the courthouse at the same entrance, the district attorney’s office on Hogan Place, that he arrived at last April for his arraignment. 

Security is extremely tight both outside and inside the courthouse, with everyone going through two sets of magnetometers before they enter the courtroom on the 15th floor of Manhattan criminal court. 

Trump did not have to be here today after Judge Juan Merchan had waived his appearance, but the former president chose to show up.

The case involves Trump’s payoff to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election, allegedly to cover up an extramarital affair, which prosecutors say amounted to an illegal campaign contribution. Trump’s attorneys say there was nothing illegal about the payment.

Trump just left Trump Tower in Midtown Manhattan and is expected to head to the courthouse in lower Manhattan, witnesses told NBC News. 

ATLANTA — The Georgia judge presiding over the election interference case against former President Donald Trump gave the green light Monday for a hearing this week involving misconduct allegations against Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and said her disqualification from the case is “possible.”

Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee made the remarks at a hearing where he denied Willis’ bid to toss out a subpoena for her testimony at the hearing Thursday, at least for now.

With a little more than a week until South Carolina’s Republican primary, Donald Trump is expected back in Manhattan as a judge is set to decide if the former president must go to trial next month. Prosecutors are accusing him of doctoring his company’s books to bury evidence of an alleged affair ahead of the 2016 election. NBC’s Laura Jarrett reports for "TODAY."

A grand jury in New York City voted in March 2023 to indict Donald Trump — the first time a former U.S. president has faced criminal charges.

The historic indictment comes in a case centered on $130,000 in payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels during the closing days of the 2016 presidential campaign. Daniels claimed she slept with the married Trump in 2006, a claim he has denied. Trump had classified his reimbursement of the payout as a legal expense.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to all 34 charges.

Read highlights from the Manhattan arraignment here.

Former President Donald Trump will attend a hearing Thursday that is expected to determine a timetable for the trial in the New York hush money case against him, his lawyer said Tuesday.New York Judge Juan Merchan’s hearing on Thursday, where he will also address Trump’s motions to dismiss the case, will likely shape the first felony trial against the former president. Last year, the judge decided that the trial would begin on March 25, though that date seemed to be up in the air because of charges facing Trump in the federal election interference case.

In New York, Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential bid. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Read the full story here.