Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp said that new revelations about the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump have left it tainted.
The substance of any case Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis may have had has been overshadowed in recent weeks by revelations that she was in a romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, the prosecutor she hired to investigate Trump.
The existence of the relationship and its impact on the case have led for Trump and other defendants in the trial to call for Willis to be disqualified from the case.
During a recent appearance on NewsNation, Kemp — who has had his own battles with Trump in the past over the 2020 election results in Georgia — indicated that the allegations and revelations have left an indelible stain on the case.
“I gotta be careful about what I say here, because I was subpoenaed by [Fani Willis] in the special grand jury,” Kemp said, according to The Hill.
“But it’s hard to believe that a process that I think many people — including myself — believe is very political, regardless of the merits behind the case, has gotten even more political now because of her actions and those of Mr. Wade and others,” Kemp said.
Kemp had sought to avoid testifying to a grand jury in the case, but was not successful.
Kemp said Tuesday that he believes Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee, who will decide Willis’s fate, has the right skills to make the right call.
“I’m very confident Judge McAfee will make a good decision, and then we can go from there,” Kemp said.
Is this case political persecution against Trump?
Last year, Kemp rejected calls to impeach Willis after Trump was indicted, according to NewsNation.
“As long as I’m governor, we’re going to follow the law and the Constitution, regardless of who it helps or harms politically,” Kemp said then.
Wade’s former divorce attorney and law partner, Terrence Bradley, was on the hot seat Tuesday at a hearing when he was confronted with text messages he sent to attorney Ashleigh Merchant, who is an attorney for a Trump co-defendant, according to the New York Post.
Bradley said in the exchange that he “absolutely” believed the relationship between Wade and Willis began before his appointment.
While on the stand, Bradley mumbled what sounded like, “Oh, dang” as Merchant read the messages.
He also said, he “speculated on some things” in his texts and had no direct knowledge of the opening chapter of the Willis-Wade relationship.
Trump, meanwhile, pressed home his case that the relationship should disqualify Willis.
“The fact that Fani Willis and ‘Lover’ Wade unquestionably started their relationship BEFORE the beginning of their FAKE case that was brought against me and many others, would unequivocally mean, according to virtually all legal experts and scholars, THAT THIS CASE IS OVER!” Trump posted on Truth Social.
