2/ Hallerman:

Here are some of the things I'm watching for:

- Any hints from McAfee on how he could rule
- Whether he admits any new evidence, allows new testimony
- How defense attorneys interpret Terrence Bradley's testimony

3/ Hallerman:

Judge McAfee confirms that defense attorneys have asked for 90 mins to divide between themselves for closing statements. He's giving prosecutors the same amount of time

5/ NBC:

John Merchant, Roman's defense attorney, is starting his closing arguments, focusing on what he alleges is a conflict of interest on Willis' part.

Via live blog: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/live-blog/trump-cases-live-updates-fani-willis-rcna140536

7/ NBC:

Roman alleged that Willis skirted the rules to appoint Wade and that she benefited financially from his appointment, which has earned his office over $600,000 to date.

8/ "There's enough facts in front of you, you know it when you see it," Merchant says of what constitutes a disqualifying conflict.

He's arguing that the standard for removing the DA from the case is an appearance of conflict, not an actual conflict.

11/ Sadow is up now.

I detest him.

12/ Hallerman:

Trump's attorney Steve Sadow is up next. He's evoking Willis speech at Big Bethel AMEChurch, during which she said critics were playing the "race card." Sadow says it represented "a calculated determination by Ms. Willis to prejudice" a jury against the defendants

13/ FYI, this is about Squeaky:

As part of his closing arguments, John Merchant defended his wife Ashleigh, a lawyer for Trump co-defendant Michael Roman who led much of the witness questioning in this case.

"I will resist the temptation to defend my wife, who I believe to be an excellent lawyer," John Merchant told the judge, adding, "but i will say this, judge: you don’t just evaluate the credibility of the witness list. You evaluate the credibility of the lawyers."

more...

14/ cont'd:

Merchant said Adam Abbate, a lawyer for the state, "stood up here in open court ... and called her a liar."

"For the state to get up here and impugn her credibility" is inappropriate, Merchant added.

15/ Hallerman:

Sadow says there is a "legitimate concern based on the evidence of this case of (Willis and Wade's) truthfulness." He cites the testimony of former Willis friend Robin Yeartie and texts between ex-Wade law partner Terrence Bradley and attorney Ashleigh Merchant

Specifically, Sadow mentions Bradley's text “absolutely” when Merchant asked him if he believe Wade’s relationship with Willis began before she hired him

16/ Via Acyn:

Judge McAfee on Bradley text messages: In these text messages, is it ever definitively shown how he knew this… Usually if a state has a witness that goes sideways, they've got him locked in.., we don’t have that here

17/ NBC:

Trump's lawyer Steve Sadow told the judge that he didn't have to decide in this hearing that Willis and Wade lied. He said that what he had to do is "make a finding of the fact that you have genuine legitimate concerns about their credibility and their truthfulness."

Sadow then pushed the judge on the threshold for misconduct, saying that it only needed to be a "preponderance of evidence."

18/JHC.

Hallerman:

Craig Gillen, attorney for David Shafer, says Willis' strategy for her church speech was "deflection." She did two other "reprehensible" things for a lawyer or prosecutor, he said, play "the race card and the God card."

"She chose to inject race into the minds of the listeners and virtually everybody in this community," including people who could serve as jurors down the line, Gillen said. He calls it "premeditated."

19/ Hallerman:

Next up is Richard Rice, attorney for Bob Cheeley. He points to sheer volume of Willis-Wade texts, which tallies up to 10,000 text messages in 11 months, or roughly 30 a day.

“I don’t even think lovestruck teenagers communicate that much," he says

21/

Tamar Hallerman:

As he closes, Rice cites Judge McBurney's ruling on Burt Jones. If Willis was DQed for holding a fundraiser for a political opponent, then what Willis has done here "creates an actual conflict," he says