'Certain conviction': Watergate prosecutor says Trump can't beat hush money evidence

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Former President Donald Trump is facing a guaranteed conviction in the Stormy Daniels hush payment case, argued former Watergate prosecutor Nick Akerman on CNN Wednesday — assuming that the trial is able to move forward.

This comes amid reports that Trump, who is charged by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg with criminally falsifying business records, is planning to attend a hearing on the case Thursday that will decide some of his pretrial motions.

"There's so much going on," said anchor John Berman. "It's hard to keep track of, but the point I want to make is this week there's real rulings coming down and real decisions being made in real court cases. Let's start with one Donald Trump will go to tomorrow. We shorthand it as 'the hush money case,' it's the criminal trial right here in New York, but it's really more than that."

"Oh, it's much more than that," agreed Akerman. "I mean, this is an extremely important prosecution. It's not just about Donald Trump and Stormy Daniels. This is about Donald Trump, in the 2016 election, trying to hide and conceal from the public very important information that would have absolutely torpedoed his election chances.

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"And it came on the heels of that 'Access Hollywood' tape and all of these allegations by other women, this would have been the actual killer item that would have ended his campaign. And he obstructed that, and it was a very organized scheme that involved the National Enquirer, involved his own lawyer. And this is an important case."

"What will we learn, do you think, tomorrow?" Berman asked.

"We're going to learn if it's actually going to trial on March 25th," Akerman replied. "This is a certain conviction as far as I'm concerned. Two co-operating witnesses corroborated by a tape on which Donald Trump's voice appears, as well as a lot of other witnesses who are going to corroborate and support little pieces of that case."

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Trump's court setbacks pile up faster than Supreme Court can bail him out: ex-prosecutor

President Donald Trump's legal setbacks are stacking up faster than a friendly Supreme Court can undo them, according to former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance.

Vance, who served as U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, walked through a string of courtroom developments in four cities in a Thursday post on her Substack, Civil Discourse. Each one, she argued, went badly for the Trump administration.

D.C. Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman threw out the indictment against Davey Hearn, the Olympian the Trump administration blamed for damage to the Reflecting Pool. Edelman dismissed the case with prejudice, which bars prosecutors from refiling it. His order noted the government had already concluded no crime occurred.

"The government has no right to retain the ability to compound the errors it has already made, or even to threaten to do so, at Mr. Hearn's expense," Edelman wrote.

In Seattle, a federal judge sided with Roger Rogoff, the U.S. attorney appointed by the court after the administration ran out of time to keep an interim pick in place without Senate confirmation. The Trump administration had fired Rogoff as soon as he was appointed.

In Minneapolis, the family of Renee Good, who was shot and killed by an ICE officer, filed two civil suits. Vance wrote that if the cases reach discovery, the depositions and records involved "could make this a revelatory legal exercise and not a welcome one for Trump administration officials."

And in Chicago, U.S. District Judge April Perry launched a fact-finding process into whether the U.S. attorney's office misled her in the Broadview 6 case, a prosecution of six anti-ICE protesters. Vance called the step highly unusual and noted it could end in sanctions, up to and including criminal contempt.

Vance acknowledged that some of these fights will land before a Supreme Court that has repeatedly sided with Trump. "But not every case reaches the Supreme Court and not every bit of accountability the lower courts create can be undone there," she wrote.

"That's a lot of cases to keep track of in just one day," Vance wrote. "But the unprecedented deluge is proof of just how off the rails the Trump presidency is."

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GOP senators rip Trump's 'bad form' splurge with swipe at Kristi Noem: report

Republican senators are turning on President Donald Trump's government-funded ads glorifying himself, with one pointing to an unexpected source of funding.

In a Thursday article for The Bulwark, Joe Perticone reported pushback from multiple GOP senators on ads that have been airing during NFL games and feature Trump's voice promising supporters a reckoning with his enemies. In one ad, Trump strides down a hallway as he vows to "demolish the deep state" and "rout the fake news media."

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) flatly rejected President Donald Trump's government-funded ads glorifying himself, and when asked whether the president is permitted to run the spots, he answered with a blunt "no," according to a report. Cornyn then took a jab at former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem while floating a theory about the source of the money.

"It looks like there's money left over from Kristi Noem's self-aggrandizing movies and videos," Cornyn said. "So I just think it's bad form."

The same ad ran on Trump's Truth Social account during his 2024 presidential campaign, Perticone noted. Unlike past federal campaigns, the spots don't promote any particular government program or policy, Perticone added. Trump reportedly championed the effort and has been personally involved in it.

Cornyn wasn't alone among Republicans voicing discomfort. "I personally would not do that," said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD).

"I think there's gonna be a question as to whether or not those would be considered viable or acceptable under the current law," Rounds added. "But we'll wait and see what the courts say on it."

Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) said he hadn't watched the ads but argued the government airs commercials regularly. "I've not seen this one to be able to provide a point of reference," he said.

Democrats were sharper. Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), the top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said, "We're looking into what we can do."

"It's clearly a political purpose," Peters said. "More importantly, they're diverting funds from border security and protecting the homeland for political ads."

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin seeking details on how the ads were made, what role Trump played and whether ethics officials signed off.

Ex-Trump official blames cracking MAGA coalition as top aides flee 'Armageddon': report

A former Trump official said fractures in the president's coalition are fueling a wave of senior departures from the White House.

The official was among roughly six current and former administration aides who spoke with the Daily Mail for a report published Thursday about the steady stream of exits from Trump's second-term White House.

"The original coalition fell apart; there's cracks in the MAHA movement and the anti-war MAGA base," the former official told the Daily Mail. "A lot of people don't like the direction this administration is headed between the Iran war and increasing prices."

The departures span the top ranks of the Trump administration. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, White House counsel David Warrington, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and deputy chief of staff James Blair have all left in recent months, with Leavitt and Blair landing at MAGA Inc., the president's political operation.

Others who resigned in August include Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, U.S. Pardon Attorney Ed Martin, legislative affairs director James Braid and Andy Baker, a deputy national security adviser who also advised Vice President JD Vance.

According to a Brookings Institution analysis cited by the Daily Mail, turnover among Trump's senior Executive Office staff stood at 56 percent as of September 30. That outpaces the 40 percent the think tank recorded across Biden's first two years, though it falls short of the 66 percent Trump saw at the same point in his first term.

"Objectively, there have been a lot of senior departures," another former White House official told the Daily Mail.

A staffer from Biden's White House said exits typically accelerate after midterms, not before. "But this level of turnover before the midterms is rare," the former staffer said.

Aides also blamed exhaustion. "I had no life when I was working at the White House, which is fine. That's what you sign up for. You can't do it forever," one former official said.

Others described a scramble to secure Republican jobs before November, with prediction market Kalshi putting Democrats' odds of flipping the House at roughly 91 percent, the Daily Mail noted.

"Once November 3 hits, it's Armageddon, and everyone's out," one said.

White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told the outlet the president "has built the greatest political movement in history," and that "this movement is bigger than any one staff member."

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