Fulton County district attorney is leading a sprawling case against the former president and his allies
The Georgia prosecutor leading a sprawling election interference case against Donald Trump has testified in court about allegations of misconduct levelled against her by the former president and his co-defendants – questions that could potentially disqualify them from the case.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis began her testimony in an Atlanta courtroom on Thursday after defence attorneys questioned lead prosecutor Nathan Wade about the timeline of their relationship and the expenses they shared.
The attorneys had already admitted to their relationship but firmly rejected the “meritless” and “salacious” allegations as “bad-faith” attempts to see her kicked off a case that Mr Trump has baselessly labelled a conspiracy against him, according to court filings.
Thursday’s hearing is scrutinising allegations that the former couple financially benefited from Ms Willis hiring Mr Wade to prosecute the former president’s case, which charges Mr Trump and more than a dozen co-defendants as part of a “criminal enterprise” to overturn the state’s election results in 2020.
“I’ve been very anxious to have this conversation with you today,” Ms Willis told defence attorney Ashleigh Merchant. “It’s ridiculous that you lied on Monday and yet here we are. … I’m actually surprised that the hearing continued. But since it did, here I am.”
The allegation is that he was hired for the sole purpose of prosecuting Trump, and they both used what they were paid to work on the case in order to fund their ongoing affair. Trumps team is alleging that the entire prosecution of him and the other co-defendants is that this case was brought solely for the purposes of covering up their affair, funding it, and advancing their own name value at the expense of Trump.
For the record, it’s obvious bullshit. But the appearance of impropriety is a real thing, and there’s plenty of that. Wade spent the entire time on the witness stand trying to split hairs and argue semantics, all while having a smug look on his face as if he thinks he’s getting away with something. Both of them should have recused themselves from the case the minute the affair became public, with the usual talking point of “I intend to fight back against this attempt to drag my personal life into this case, however given the importance of this case I feel it is best for me to step aside and hand the case to another prosecutor to protect the integrity of the case and avoid any appearance of impropriety.”
She didn’t, and it very well could not only derail the case, but give Trump an enormous campaign victory as it will go a long way in convincing undecided voters that these prosecutions are politically motivated, giving him yet another bump in popularity during a time Biden is stumbling.
You know how RBG should have stepped down and retired during Obama’s term but didn’t out of her own hubris? Remember how the rest of us ended up paying for that? Same thing applies here. Fani Willis’ own hubris is preventing her from stepping aside and letting another prosecutor at least salvage the case, and that hubris could cost everybody far more if Trump’s team manages to get the whole thing thrown out.
What, were they taking state money over to the adult novelty store or something?
Like you said, obvious bullshit.
The theory is this:
Wade was hired for the sole purpose of prosecuting Trump. Both he and Willis were (I could be wrong on the number here, but you get the idea) over $600,000 during their time in the investigation. This $600k was used to fund (among other things) a trip to Belize and other vacations, along with billing the GA DA’s office for expenses that occured during these trips that should have been personal. Had they not “gone after Trump”, they would not have earned the $600k they have been using to fund their affair.
He’s basically saying that the entire prosecution is just an elaborate scheme to fund and cover up a personal affair. Normally, this would and should be written off as irrelevant nonsense, but their testimony yesterday does show that they had an ongoing affair and played all sorts of shell games with money to cover it up. Trump very easily could walk away from the entire case on a technicality because Willis couldn’t keep her personal and professional life separate, couldn’t avoid the appearance of impropriety, and refuses to step aside because of her own hubris.
Why would this end the case and not result simply in replacing the prosecutors.
She’s the DA. The DA picks the prosecutors that go to trials for the state, and now she is at risk of being disqualified - and as a result the entirety of the DAs office from the case.
At minimum if that happens it is yet another delay to the case as they scramble for replacements, who will need time to review the case and may not have the same level of understanding as Willis and Wade who’ve spent many months working it so far.
Wouldn’t it just go to the next prosecutor? It’s not like all of the evidence of crimes has suddenly disappeared.
The problem is that whoever takes over the case might be sympathetic to Trump. This is Georgia after all.