From New York Times, I'm just private today. It is an

inaccurate way to state the question. Then I will certainly restate it so it is very accurate.

Okay and please do not yell at me.

An explosive and emotional court hearing on Thursday in Georgia has revealed that what once seemed like a long-shot

legal challenge to an election interference case against Donald Trump and his allies

is now a serious threat that could derail the entire case. No, no, no, no, this is the truth.

It is a lie. My colleague, Richard Fawcett, walks us through the dramatic opening day of testimony. It's Friday, Friday, February 16th. Richard, this was one of the most remarkable court hearings I've ever seen and I watch a lot of court hearings.

It was cinematic, it was

suspenseful, it was angry. I mean at one point the judge stopped the

proceedings to kind of ask everyone to calm down and it was extraordinarily high stakes.

That's exactly my reaction. There was no idea when the hearing started this morning where it was going to go.

Lawyers were making on the fly arguments based on stuff they had just learned.

A star witness we thought was going to change

the whole shape of the day and perhaps the week

didn't end up being the star witness.

It ended up being somebody else.

And then of course we just had this absolute white-hot

torrent of emotion from Fannie Willis the prosecutor in this election

interference case and the whole time you're thinking about the stakes, which is that this tremendous criminal case that has a former president in its crosshairs is potentially under threat.

Right. Well, I think we have to rewind the clock just a few weeks to establish

why this hearing happens and why it is so important and why the drama of this day matters.

And this all starts, and I want you to explain this,

...