President Donald Trump managed to defeat the first lawsuit challenging his receipt of business profits while in office, but knocking out the second case over his alleged violations of the Constitution's emoluments clauses may not be so easy.

As a daylong hearing on that second suit kicked off in a Maryland courtroom Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Peter Messitte repeatedly indicated he wasn't persuaded by aspects of a ruling a fellow judge in New York City issued last month dismissing a high-profile case over Trump's refusal to divest his business holdings.

Donald Trump said that he’d be willing to talk under oath to Special Counsel Robert Mueller who is investigating whether anyone close to the president colluded with Russia during the 2016 campaign.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Trump told reporters in a surprise appearance at a briefing Wednesday at the White House. “I would do it” under oath even though his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton didn’t when her use of private emails was under investigation in 2016, he said.

Patty Schachtner, the chief medical examiner for St. Croix County, will take the seat that had been held for 17 years by former Sen. Sheila Harsdorf (R-River Falls). Harsdorf stepped down in November to take a job as GOP Gov. Scott Walker's agriculture secretary.

President Trump marks his first year in the White House on Jan. 20. Since he took the oath, he's been dogged by questions about his hundreds of businesses and the conflicts of interest they pose.

In attempts to confront Trump and force him to address these conflicts, congressional Democrats, state attorneys general and watchdog groups have sued the president. So far, their cases have not advanced very far in court. A federal judge has dismissed one suit.