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https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/03/15/fani-willis- trump-georgia-case/

ATLANTA — The judge overseeing the Georgia election interference case
against former president Donald Trump and his allies rejected an effort to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis (D) from the
case over a romantic relationship she had with the lead prosecutor she appointed.

In a 23-page ruling issued Friday, Fulton County Superior Court Judge
Scott McAfee wrote that defendants “failed to meet their burden” in
proving Willis’s relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade was
enough of a “conflict of interest” to merit her removal from the case. But
the judge also found an appearance of “impropriety” and said either Willis
and her office must fully leave the case or Wade must withdraw for the
case to proceed.

“The established record now highlights a significant appearance of
impropriety that infects the current structure of the prosecution team —
an appearance that must be removed,” McAfee wrote.

McAfee’s order is a significant legal victory for Willis, who maintains
control of the historic criminal case against the former president and his allies that she began investigating more than three years ago. But the
tawdry diversion has come at a personal and professional cost to Willis,
as embarrassing details of her personal life and romantic relationships
have come under scrutiny inside the same courtroom where she had hoped to
put Trump and his co-defendants on trial this August.

“You think I’m on trial. These people are on trial for trying to steal an election in 2020,” Willis declared during a fiery Feb. 15 appearance on
the witness stand where she was questioned about the allegations. “I’m not
on trial. No matter how hard you try to put me on trial.”

But even allies of Willis fear the case against Trump could be irreparably damaged, with Willis’s actions having undermined public confidence in the prosecution. And the tawdry claims against Willis are unlikely to go away
— especially in the public realm where she has already faced political
attacks from Trump and his supporters, racist criticism and threats from
those opposed to her prosecution of the former president.

On Wednesday, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) signed legislation creating a
state panel to investigate and potentially punish “rogue” local
prosecutors. While Kemp spoke of it as an attempt to combat violent crime, Republican lawmakers have already indicated they plan to investigate
Willis. A separate Georgia Senate committee already has launched its own hearings into the allegations against Willis and Wade, the lead
prosecutor, issuing a subpoena for records and hearing testimony from the lawyer who first raised the claims.

McAfee’s decision comes more than two months after Mike Roman, one of the former president’s co-defendants who worked on Trump’s 2020 campaign,
claimed in a court filing that Willis and Wade had been involved in an “improper, clandestine personal relationship” that has financially
benefited them both.

Roman’s lawyer, Ashleigh Merchant, claimed Willis may have broken the law
by hiring Wade and then allowing him to pay for “vacations across the
world” with her that were unrelated to their work on the case. Roman’s
filing, which offered no proof to substantiate the claims, called for the prosecutors to be disqualified and for the charges against him to be
dismissed.

Willis and Wade later acknowledged a romantic relationship in court
filings but denied it had tainted the proceedings. Testifying under oath
during an evidentiary hearing on Roman’s disqualification motion, both
insisted the relationship began months after Wade’s November 2021 hiring
and ended before indictments were issued last August. Both claimed they
had not deliberately concealed the relationship but had not openly
discussed it either.

“Our relationship wasn’t a secret. It was just private,” Wade testified.

Wade strongly denied that Willis had financially benefited from his role
on the case. In sworn testimony, both admitted they had taken several
trips together but that they had equally split travel costs. Wade
testified that Willis often repaid him in cash for tickets and other
expenses he charged to his credit card — though he said he did not deposit
the cash and had no record of those reimbursements.

“If you’ve ever spent any time with Ms. Willis, you understand that she’s
a very independent, proud woman,” Wade testified. “So she’s going to
insist that she carries her own weight. And it actually was a point of contention between the two of us. She is going to pay her own way.”

But Merchant accused Willis and Wade of lying. She called two witnesses to
the stand to rebut their claims — including Robin Bryant-Yeartie, a former friend and co-worker of Willis, who testified that she had “no doubt” that Willis and Wade began dating in late 2019 shortly after they met at a conference.

Merchant also called Terrence Bradley, a former law partner of Wade’s, who
she claimed would testify that Wade and Willis began their relationship
years earlier than they claimed. Text messages presented in court
suggested Bradley had been a key source as Merchant investigated rumors of
a dalliance between Willis and Wade and that she’d asked him to read
through her court filings on the subject for accuracy.

But on the stand, Bradley repeatedly declined to answer questions under
oath about what he knew about the romantic relationship between Willis and Wade. Bradley, who previously represented Wade in his ongoing divorce,
cited concerns he might violate attorney-client privilege and could be disbarred. He told the court he “had no personal knowledge” of when their relationship began — a claim he maintained even after McAfee ruled Bradley could answer some questions despite his privilege concerns.

Prosecutors later questioned the motives of Bryant-Yeartie and Bradley, portraying them as “disgruntled” former friends and co-workers who had
malice toward Willis and Wade. Prosecutor Adam Abbate called their
testimony vague and based on gossip, and said they offered no proof that
Willis and Wade had lied.

During closing arguments, Sadow and other defense attorneys repeatedly
told McAfee he didn’t need evidence that Willis and Wade’s relationship
had been an “actual conflict,” arguing “the appearance” of a conflict
would be enough to disqualify Willis and her office because she had
undermined public trust in the case.

“It puts an irreparable stain on the case,” Harry MacDougald, an attorney
for former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, told the judge.

Meanwhile Sadow and others seized on remarks Willis made during a fiery
Jan. 14 speech before a historic Black church in Atlanta — where she
accused her critics of playing “the race card” by questioning her right to appoint Wade and suggested racism was at the heart of the allegations.
Willis did not mention any defendant by name, though she named other
critics, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).

But Sadow argued the implication was that she was attacking Trump and
others and argued the speech itself was enough to disqualify Willis. “Can
you think of anything more that would heighten public condemnation of the defendant than alleging that defense counsel and the defendants were
making their motion based on race and religion?” Sadow told McAfee.
“That’s just bad as it gets in Fulton County.”

Abbate argued the defense had not proved that any of Willis’s actions had tainted the case. “There’s absolutely no evidence that the defendants in
this case, their due process rights have been harmed in absolutely any
way,” Abbate said during closing arguments. “Zero evidence.”

McAfee’s ruling comes two days after he dismissed six counts in the
sweeping indictment — including three against Trump — agreeing with
defense attorneys that the charges did not provide “sufficient detail.”
The counts related to allegations Trump and other defendants illegally
sought to pressure multiple elected officials in Georgia to violate their
oaths and work to overturn Trump’s 2020 loss in the state.

But McAfee gave prosecutors six months to resurrect the charges by
presenting the allegations to a new grand jury or through appeal. A Willis spokesman declined to comment on what the district attorney might do.

The judge’s decision on Willis is almost certain to fuel political attacks
in a year where he, Willis and Trump are all on the ballot. McAfee, who
was appointed to the bench in 2022 by Kemp, last week drew two challengers
as he seeks a full judicial term.

McAfee seemed to anticipate the attacks. Before he made his decision
public, the judge sought to make clear that his ruling wasn’t driven by political pressure, revealing in a local radio interview last week that he
had prepared a rough draft of his decision “before I ever heard a rumor
that someone wanted to run for this position.”

“So the result is not going to change because of politics,” McAfee told
“The Shelley Wynter Show.” “I am calling it as best I can and the law as I understand it.”

“No job is worth my integrity,” he added.


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We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.

Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.

No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.

Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.

President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.

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