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Judge: Willis or Wade Must Go
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee has ruled that District Attorney Fani Willis’ relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade did not amount to a conflict of interest that warranted dismissal of the case against former President Donald Trump.
However, due to the appearance of impropriety one of the two must remove themself from the case.
“As the case moves forward, reasonable members of the public could easily be left to wonder whether the financial exchanges have continued resulting in some form of benefit to the District Attorney, or even whether the romantic relationship has resumed.
“Put differently, an outsider could reasonably think that the District Attorney is not exercising her independent professional judgment totally free of any compromising influences. As long as Wade remains on the case, this unnecessary perception will persist.”
The entire order can be read here.
Update: Nathan Wade has resigned from the case.
Published in General
Strange order. I really expected nothing.
He split the baby without killing it.
Shorter form of the Judge’s ruling:
Only one liar may present the case to the court.
This seems like it.
Like I said, very strange.
It’s likely not the end of it. Ethics complaints have been filed from people outside the case.
One person on X put it this way:
Probably not an either/or situation, but interesting points.
It’s the court’s answer to the motion, but the problem persists: she hired Wade, paid him a heap of cash, he took her on vacations. Judge McAfee says sufficient paper on their personal transactions doesn’t exist and without knowing the specifics of those transactions, he did not have grounds for further action. It may be sufficient for ethical repercussions.
We’ll see.
But it preserves the case. Outside complaints would not have standing to dismiss the charges which was plaintiff’s goal. None of the complaints about Willis or Wade was about anything that they had done that specifically tainted the case against Trump (e.g., falsifying evidence, Brady violations, et. al.).
“Let’s see, I can’t do nothing. What’s the least I can do so that I can say I did something?”
Wade took the bullet. He has withdrawn.
I think, EJ, we have to/can consider that most individuals would not have brought the case in the first place. It’s a win because it uncovered corruption and will prevent this particular actor (Willis) from doing the same again. It is a disruption of what we often refer to as “business as usual.” That’s a win.
Now, if you’re referring to its impact on the Racketeering case against Trump, that remains to be seen. It’s still Willis’s meal ticket. What it immediately affects is the credibility of the person who brought the case. In the court of public opinion, that’s also a win.
No doubt cash is on its way.
You know its a Black Thang.
It also is feeding actions by the GA State Legislature which passed a new way to go after DAs in GA. It is not like the GOP in the State Legislature is standing still.
I certainly don’t think she’s going to give it up.
As for public opinion it impacts jury selection. Now, someone more schooled in law will have to answer a question I have. Under Georgia law a defendant and a prosecutor each has 9 Peremptory Challenges (i.e., no questions asked dismissals) to use in jury selection. So is that 9 per defendant if they’re being tried together or is that 9 as a group? That’s a difference of having 9 vs 72 challenges.
From the case or Willis? ;)
I doubt any court is going to allow any law the legislature passes after the filings to be applied to this case. That borders too much on a bill of attainder. Gov. Kemp signed that law on Wednesday.
There was another commission that was created last year but it needed approval from the State Supreme Court and they nixed it last November.
Well, we will see.
I certainly don’t think it is Bill of Attainder territory though. It is looking a oversight of someone in a government job, not looking to lock them up.
Except for the likelihood that Willis – who has no experience with such cases – ginned up the case just so she could profit from it, by routing money to Wade – who also has no experience with such cases – which then redounded to her benefit as well as his.
Not true. She prosecuted the public school cheating scandal in 2015 under the same RICO statutes and that’s where she made her mark.
According to A Dershowitz, the judge split the baby, and the baby died
I meant political really, and from what I’ve read, Wade hasn’t done any previous criminal cases at all.
Well, I don’t know what you’ve been reading but prior to this she had a reputation for being a pretty good litigator. She spent 16 years as an assistant DA prosecuting all sorts of crimes – from murder to sexual assault to the Atlanta Schools scandal.
Jerry Baxter, who is the Senior Judge of the Superior Court of Fulton County and oversaw the schools trial has nothing but praise for her.
But, of course, that’s not Trump’s style. I’d say take her lightly at your own peril.
She might well be a good litigator. I have no idea. On the stand she was horrible.
PS. EJ: the comment you were replying to spoke of Wade, not Willis.
I know. But he’s Mr. Irrelevant now. The Trump team is now going to have to deal with her and it may well turn out to be that knocking the rookie out of the game may not be their best outcome. When they chose this strategy their best case scenario was dismissal and that didn’t happen.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/daily-memo/2923100/lawfareland-gets-nervous/
Poor Darrius.
If in fact that’s the case, I suggest you drop pronouns and use names. It’s a habit I’m trying to adopt. Saves a lot of trouble on several different fronts.
This^^^^^^^
In most jurisdictions, their conduct would lead to license suspension or disbarment. But hey, this is Fulton County, GA, so “Forget it, Jake. It’s Atlanta.”
“No matter how cynical I become, I just can’t keep up.” attributed to Lily Tomlin.
It depends how she sees it. Two easy scenarios to discern are: 1) she has no future unless she gives up the case; or, 2) she has no future if she does give it up.
One Georgia legal figure commented if she gave up the case she could “save some face.” If she doesn’t, her actions will be under a microscope. I’m sure she was lured into this by the high-profile nature of the case, and I would have to guess she’s somewhat less enthusiastic now that it’s becoming a high-wire situation.
She better pay attention to the news as well. We learned this week the J6 Committee withheld transcripts that contradicted public claims made by the committee. The J6 Committee provided materials to Willis’s office to help with the prosecution. Wouldn’t you be a little less confident in what they sent? Those transcripts could have a direct bearing on this case.
All that and a key piece of evidence was illegally obtained.
With the ethical blowup, no one can afford to come to her aid, not in an election year when the main concerns are economic. And now she has two challengers, including a primary challenge. She has to run for re-election on top of managing this case.
MSNBC two weeks ago said the motion should be defeated in its entirety, and that it should be a simple decision. They praised McAfee’s decision today and called it evenhanded. It can’t be unless their perspective shifted. Fani Willis is a media darling no more, at least for the moment.
All-in-all, it’s not an enviable position, but she put herself there. It could be her only route to rehabilitation is a Trump conviction, but she may not even get a chance if she’s not re-elected.
Depends on what her aspirations are.
Not sure what weight that carries. If I understand it correctly someone says he heard Meadows had an offer of troops. But there’s no evidence to back that up? No text messages or emails?
That’s going to be an interesting call (no pun intended.) Is the Georgia judge going to be feel he’s bound by Florida law in the execution of duties by a Georgia state employee?
Fulton County is 3-1 Democrat vs Republican. Politically this doesn’t hurt her. She was unopposed in her election in 2020.
Her primary challenger has a solid prosecutorial resume. I think she has some work to do and just 8-9 weeks to do it.
Just the fact that she has a strong challenge from within the party suggests her status/position is not viewed as tenable. The only reason it should happen is if the party is afraid they’ll lose in the general, even with a 3 to 1 advantage.
Pretty interesting stuff, or it’s just overactive analysis. I have no sense of the primary opponent’s political stature, but, as I said, her experience looks solid.
He leans towards the Soros side. He had to file paperwork to meet the deadline but told CBS he had not yet decided if he’ll run.
I don’t know how strong he is. He ran in the primary 4 years ago and came in 3rd. He ran for state AG in 2022 and got obliterated.