Fulton County District Attorney Fani Wills, 54, was given an ultimatum today by 34-year-old presiding Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee. McAfee’s 23-page ruling said either Willis resigns or her 50-something boyfriend lead prosecutor Nathan Wade resigns. So, Wade resigned today, glad to get the monkey off his back, leaving Willis to go back to the drawing board on how to prosecute 77-year-old former Prosecutor Donald Trump and his 18 associates for election interference in the 2020 presidential race. McAffee struck five charges for the 41-felonies a day earlier, removing Trump’s infamous call after the Nov. 3, 2020 presidential election, asking 68-year-old Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to find 11,780 votes so he could apparently win the election. Former president Donald Trump asked Raffesnperger to find only legitimate votes, not trying to fabricate votes.
Removing the infamous phone call to Raffensperger from trial changes everything, because making a case of election racketeering becomes even more farfetched. Removing Wade today, Wllis essentially accepts McAfee’s 23-page ruling that her romantic relationship with Wade breached professional ethics, turning the case into a three-ring circus. Retaining herself on the case opens a can of worms for Willis, no longer having the credibility to get any of the expected convictions for election interference. Knowing gory details of how Wills galavanted with Wade, yucking it up at Nappa wineries, paying all cash for their playtime raises real, as McAfee pointed out, issues of mendacity, especially over when the romantic relationship with Wade began or ended. Defense attorney Steve Sadow said the relationship began before Willis tapped Wade for lead prosecutor.
McAffee, a recently appointed judge who’s up for reelection, didn’t go far enough in his effort to compromise on the case. He claimed in his ruling he didn’t have conclusive evidence that Willis lied about the timing of her relationship with Wade. But that’s not really the most significant obstacle that now faces Willis when it comes to public credibility. Some partisans don’t care whether the Fulton County court system administers real justice, only want to see Trump and his cronies convicted on all counts. But now going forward, Willis is going to seat a jury and ask them to believe anything she says knowing she’s openly lied about her relationship with Wade but engaging in behavior frowned on in any court setting, certainly one she expects to convict the former president of the United States. How can any future jury ever trust Willis to run a fair prosecution with the cat out of the bag?
McAfee, to preserve the integrity of the Fulton County criminal justice system, should have recused both Willis and Wade from any involvement in the case. Without the charge of Trump trying to influence Raffensperger, what’s left of the case, other than election workers accusing Trump backers of interfering in the vote counting? So much dirt was exposed during Willis and Wade’s testimony, that the Fulton County criminal justice system no longer has any credibility. McAfee agreed that either Willis or Wade must go to proceed with charges against Trump and his associates. Yet in deciding that Wade must go, McAfee agrees that there was enough conflict-of-interest or the appearance of it to insist that one of them must step down. If one Wade steps down, it’s an admission by Willis that something inappropriate went down on the election racketeering case.
Trump’s attorney Steven Sadow has plenty of grounds for an appeal even before a jury has been picked or court convenes. What’s Willis going to say to a jury now that she’s been exposed to so much malfeasance, certainly enough for McAfee to conclude there’s enough appearance of conflict of interest to warrant one or both them removed from the trial. Calling Willis and Wade’s shenanigans the “appearance of impropriety,” Scott forever taints the case knowing that Willis and Wade played an integral part in any malfeasance. “Without sufficient evidence that the District Attorney acquired a personal stake in the prosecution, or that he financial arrangements had any impact on the case, the defendants’ claims of an actual conflict must be denied,” McAfee said. Allowing Willis to stay on the case sets any future trial up for almost automatic appeal.
McAfee tried to administer balanced justice, tinkered too much trying to distinguish between actual conflict of interest from the appearance of conflict of interest. Letting Willis stay on the case forever taints the election interference case against Trump and his associates also charged with racketeering. McAfee was well within his judicial discretion to remove both Willis and Wade from the high profile case commanding so much media attention. Already delayed by at least two months, it’s doubtful Willis can press her case forward without strong objections about the way she acted, especially her affair with Wade. Trump’s co-defendant Michael Roman argued that Willis and Wade did not disclose their relationship while benefitting financially from prosecuting Trump and his associates. If Willis continues as DA, she knows she faces an uphill battle to get any convictions.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
