The former president is facing down Michael Cohen, his longtime fixer, in a Manhattan courtroom, while other ex-loyalists are cooperating in a case against him in Georgia.
The guilty pleas present a host of challenges as state and federal prosecutors engage in parallel efforts to hold Donald J. Trump accountable, defense lawyers and former federal prosecutors say.
Jenna Ellis, the lawyer who pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the authorities in the Georgia prosecution, was closely involved in efforts to overturn the 2020 election.