Georgia starts investigation into Trump's election interference

I agree, it's only an affair but better to have a new lead...........IF it doesn't delay the trial, if it does then F that.

 

Interesting, and this only happens when a republican is elected? How is that different than what the maga gop is doing to not secure a border bill along with aid that will help all Americans that has bipartisan sponsorship?

Unelected civil servants "thwarting" an agenda seems a little farfetched but appreciate your insight on what it means

 

Trump's attorney comes across as a total mess and an idiot (as most of his lawyers do these days) but this looks awful for Fani Willis and Wade.

Her own friend testified the relationship began years ago. She and Wade potentially lied in sworn affidavits to the court. The relationship has nothing to do with Trump or his right to a fair trial, realistically. Them sleeping together doesn't hurt his trial chances. if anything it might help him if she hired a lesser lawyer because they were screwing.

However, her judgment appears to be fatally flawed. She's been disqualified from a case before because of bad judgement. Here again, to hire someone from private practice to lead this case with little relevant experience, pay him a fortune and then lie to the court about it? JFC. The people of Fulton County should be angry.

 

If it were that easy, I think she would've been shitcanned already rather than defended on the public sphere.
If Roman is successful in having Willis relieved from bringing the case, it would result in the disqualification of the entire district attorney’s office, throwing into disarray a prosecution that has already been roiled politically since the allegations were made last month.

This is an entangled mess where I won't be expecting much of a desired outcome.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/15/fani-willis-georgia-election-case-trump (bolded emphases are the article's, not my own)

In a packed courtroom on Thursday, an Atlanta judge examined whether Fulton county prosecutors charging Donald Trump and his allies over efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia had improper romantic relations that merit being disqualified from bringing the case.

The eventual outcome of the hearing – expected to take over two days before the presiding Fulton county superior judge Scott McAfee – could have far-reaching implications for one of the most perilous criminal cases against the former president. The judge is not expected to rule on the matter immediately.


Trump’s co-defendant in the Georgia 2020 election interference case, Michael Roman, is seeking to have the Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis and her top deputy, Nathan Wade, disqualified as a result of their romantic relationship, alleging it constitutes a conflict of interest.

Testifying on Thursday, Wade doubled down on his defense: that their relationship started in March of 2022, four months after he was hired, and that they shared expenses for trips roughly equally.

“Our relationship wasn’t a secret. It was just private,” he said. When questioned by Roman’s lawyer, Ashleigh Merchant, he said there wasn’t always record that they split the cost of vacations and other expenses because she paid him back in cash.

“She’s a very independent proud woman. She’s going to insist she pays her own way,” she said. “In a relationship ma’am, particularly men, we don’t go asking back for anything. You’re not keeping a ledger for things you pay for versus things she pay for.”

If Roman is successful in having Willis relieved from bringing the case, it would result in the disqualification of the entire district attorney’s office, throwing into disarray a prosecution that has already been roiled politically since the allegations were made last month.

The district attorney’s office has vehemently rejected the claim that the romantic relationship gave rise to a conflict, arguing in court filings that there was no impropriety under the law and there was no financial benefit to either Willis or Wade, as has been alleged.

McAfee allowed the hearing to go forward after he decided on Monday that there was the possibility of conflict that he wanted to resolve. “It’s clear that disqualification can occur if evidence is produced demonstrating an actual conflict or the appearance of one,” he said at a hearing.

Other early testimonies on Thursday put Willis in a defensive position.

Robin Yeartie, a former college friend of Willis, testified that she had “no doubt” Willis and Nathan Wade, a special prosecutor in the case, were in a relationship before Willis hired him to work on the Trump case. That’s significant because Wade said in an affidavit to the court their relationship only began after he was hired.

Anna Cross, a lawyer for Willis, sought to undercut Yeartie’s testimony. She noted that Yeartie had resigned from the district attorney’s office in 2022 and suggested she had a falling-out with Willis. Cross suggested that Willis told Yeartie she was going to be fired for poor performance.

Yeartie also said on the stand that she had no knowledge of Willis and Wade living together, paying for each other’s expenses or going on vacation together. That information is critical because it could establish whether their relationship meant there was an actual substantial conflict for Willis.

“I heard the two witnesses basically say ‘we saw the relationship begin well before 2021’,” said Josh Schiffer, a criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor in Atlanta, at the courthouse.

“And they are two witnesses that there wasn’t a lot of impeachment about other than casting some aspersions. But the evidence is very clear and uncontroverted that there were two witnesses contradicting the affidavit. Done. Done.”

The allegations first surfaced in an 8 January motion filed by Roman’s lawyer Ashleigh Merchant, who complained about a potential conflict of interest arising from what she described as “self-dealing” between Willis and Wade as a result of their then-unconfirmed romantic relationship.

Roman’s filing, in essence, accused Willis of engaging in a quasi-kickback scheme, where Wade paid for joint vacations to Florida and California using earnings of more than $650,000 from working on the Trump case. The filing also alleged the relationship had started before he was hired.

The filing itself, however, provided no concrete evidence that showed alleged self-dealing. At the time, Merchant said her information was based on confidential sources and information in Wade’s divorce case. Yet when the divorce records were unsealed, there was similarly no concrete evidence.

After declining to address the allegations for a month, the district attorney’s office acknowledged on 2 February that Willis and Wade had been romantically involved but only after he had been hired as a special prosecutor, and insisted there was no financial benefit because travel costs had been split.

Whether Willis will be disqualified remains uncertain. Legal experts have generally suggested the evidence to date – there has been almost none, bar Wade’s bank statements showing he paid for a couple of trips – did not show an actual conflict of interest.

The potential problem for Willis is that she was previously disqualified from investigating the Georgia lieutenant governor Burt Jones over a lower legal standard of “appearance of impropriety”, after she publicly endorsed Jones’s political rival in that re-election race.

The allegations have also threatened to turn the case into political theatre. Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, has derided the prosecution as scandal-plagued in addition to his usual refrain that the criminal charges against him are a political witch-hunt.​

 

One of the negatives of ignoring the rabble-rousers is I have no clue what's going on here...

 

Yikes Fani not coming off well -- far too argumentative and verbose.

This is tough to listen to -- strange to hear a DA so poor testifying she really opens herself to additional questions with all the rambling.

 

She is out of control -- warning from judge.

 

Link?

Edit: Found it...




Ohhhhhh shiiiiiitttt...she really in her feelings.

 

She is infuriating with her answers -- hard to believe the attorneys aren't asking the judge or just saying to her -- YES OR NO MS. WILLIS!

 

I can't imagine myself going to court and telling the lawyer upon questioning "quit yelling at me!" She has no business anywhere near this case moving forward.

 

So many clusterf*ck moments -- I'm not sure I've seen a person at her level perform so poorly --the attorneys were equally bad with their questions and lack of follow ups.

 

I agree, but if she is off the case, from the article that Invisible fan posted above then the entire office is off the case, and I doubt there is a trial before the elections. Not excusing her, but if she is found guilty, its pretty much game over for this case which on the surface seems strong

 

If that's the situation I'm genuinely split on if she should remain or not. Trump has been skirting the law for decades and this had to be the time Fani decides she needs to get dicked down by a subordinate nonetheless on the most important case of her career, maybe even in the history of the State of Georgia.

 

her judgement is obviously really bad.

people online are praising her performance today and I don’t get it. She seemed defensive and unhinged at times. She was like a Law and Order episodes really bad witness.

I still hope she isn’t disqualified because of the implications to the case if she is. But realistically, her judgement is embarrassing.

 

I heard a little bit of Willis’ testimony and it sounded bad. Very combative and defensive. The evidence against her doesn’t look good.

Given the nature of this case it pretty much has to be air tight with the prosecution not just presenting solid evidence but themselves as extremely professional. Willis and Wade have made that difficult and even if they aren’t removed the Defense will hammer them on it.

 

trump is gonna win in november aint he

 

Not after Joe Biden claims the election was rigged and uses an alternate slate of electors after VP Harris declines the ones from red states to win a 2nd term...

 

Fani is the dumbest attorney I have ever listened to. Wow. Don’t live in places where people like this become DA — turns into third world shenanigans — like this.

Oh, and this case is over. She’ll likely be disbarred and possibly convicted of several crimes. As she should be.

 

It had daytime Court TV feel to it.

Not exactly Judge Judy...not exactly Divorce Court....where One Man Crime Wave's meets Jerry Springer.