Last week in Atlanta, Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee held two days of hearings looking into the allegations of corruption against Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani Willis. What did we learn from the hearings?
We heard conflicting timelines regarding Willis’ relationship with her paramour Nathan Wade, an attorney she also hired as a special counsel in the Trump investigation, despite his lack of experience handling these types of cases. We heard about the trips that Willis and Wade took together in excruciating detail.
The hearings gave us a fascinating glimpse into Willis’ personal life. We heard extensive discussions about how she keeps thousands of dollars in cash at the ready “wherever I lay my head.” We discovered that she had to move from her home because of threats against her life — which Atlanta’s extensive media never reported — while her father stayed put because he was scared of COVID.
Willis took the stand in a surprise, dramatic moment straight from an episode of “Matlock.” She stormed into the courtroom, demanding documents before taking the stand, and she didn’t do herself any favors with her testimony. She came across as agitated, lobbing accusations at the attorneys questioning her. She would take her answers to questions off on tangents as if she were trying to obfuscate.
Related: From Fani’s Cash Stash to Gangland Attorneys: What’s Up With Fulton County’s Justice System?
At Friday’s hearing, Wade’s former law partner, Terrence Bradley, was no help to either side. Hours late after a doctor’s appointment, Bradley hid behind “attorney-client privilege” and denied a bombshell sexual harassment allegation near the end of his testimony.
Former Georgia governor Roy Barnes, the last Democrat to lead the state and one of the worst governors in recent memory, testified that Willis asked him to join her Trump attack team, but he didn’t because he feared the blowback and wanted to “make money.” That’s par for the course for him.
We also learned that the attorneys representing Willis’ office loved the word “objection.” They said it every chance they could. I think if Trump’s co-defendants’ attorneys said that the sky was blue, these lawyers would interject with, “Objection! Your honor, the sky is cerulean.”
What we didn’t learn was the fate of Willis and Wade. McAfee put a stop to the hearing at the end of the day on Friday and began to look over the evidence from two days of testimony.
“McAfee did not decide Friday whether to remove Willis and the entire Fulton DA’s office from the case – a decision that could fundamentally undermine the case against Trump and 14 other remaining defendants,” write David Wickert and Tamar Hallerman at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC). “Instead, he agreed to review some evidence that will be submitted under seal and will schedule another hearing as soon as next Friday.”
“That leaves Willis, Wade, the defendants, and the entire case in limbo for at least another week,” the reporters add.
Of course, we know what needs to happen. McAfee should do the right thing and disqualify Willis and her office from the case.
“Willis’ conflict of interest shatters any notion that the case against Trump has been prosecuted fairly,” writes former senator Kelly Loeffler in an op-ed at the AJC. “Her scheme is disqualifying – and Fulton Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee has already signaled a willingness to remove her from the case if the evidence bears out.”
Loeffler also points out that there’s only one way to stop the corruption that has plagued the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office once and for all. The ballot box is the key.
But there is a way to stop the bleeding. Vote them out.
District attorneys and solicitors general in all but a handful of states are elected, along with many judges. Willis will be on the ballot in November – representing a rare opportunity to restore balance to an office that has supported the left’s pro-criminal activism for far too long.
As Americans, we must acknowledge and end the left’s lawfare by removing partisans from a system that demands impartiality and a commitment to upholding the law. This is not a mission for Georgia alone but for every community where failed or political prosecutors are working to change American justice to “equity.” For all their talk of democracy, Democrats have made clear they will use the courts for their agenda when the ballot fails to get their result.
The Fulton judge might well remove Willis from Trump’s trial in the coming weeks. But it will be up to the voters of Georgia to remove her from the office of district attorney this November.
She’s absolutely right. The only way to make a statement that the citizens of Fulton County won’t stand for corruption is for them to make their voices heard at the ballot box. Here’s hoping that will happen.