George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley questioned why Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was not disqualified from the case against former President Donald Trump Friday, saying she “did great harm” to her office.
Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee ruled that Willis must either step aside or remove Nathan Wade, a special prosecutor Willis hired, from the case against Trump. Turley noted that the conduct of Willis since allegations of impropriety surfaced was one reason there would be a “lingering question.” (RELATED: Dershowitz Says Fani Willis Wants ‘A Quick Conviction With A Biased Jury’)
“You had Willis put together the most attenuated, I mean, weak racketeering claim, just somehow bring together these 18 defendants into a single conspiracy. It doesn’t hold well even when you read the prosecution’s own papers, you are left at the end with what? ” Turley told “America’s Newsroom” co-hosts Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino. “It’s almost a random aspect as some of these people being put into this overarching conspiracy. I think that’s the problem is when you improvise, you make mistakes and we’ve seen those mistakes, obviously, in this case. In fairness to the judge, he is saying, I don’t buy the fact that Willis brought this case, essentially, because she was going to bring in her lover and get free trips out of it. I get that. I think it’s very clear that the motivation of Willis was not romantic, but political. That doesn’t make it any better.
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“I can see why the judge said, even if I accept a lot of this evidence, I don’t necessarily believe it was the purpose of the case or how the case was unfolding,” Turley continued. “My problem with the judge is that these two prosecutors stand deeply contradicted, not just by witnesses, but by cellphone evidence. I find it hard to believe that the judge accepted their testimony as completely credible. So if you believe that they may have lied on the stand, I don’t see how that doesn’t prove the gravitational pull to disqualify both.”
Willis and Wade came under scrutiny after attorneys for former Trump campaign aide Michael Roman filed a motion for Willis’ disqualification on Jan. 8, alleging that Willis was in a romantic relationship with Wade. Willis and Wade admitted to the relationship during a hearing held Feb. 15 and Feb. 16 to gather evidence to determine if Willis should be disqualified.
Robin Yeartie, a former friend of Willis, testified that her relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade began in 2019, not 2022, while Wade admitted he had no receipts to prove that Willis reimbursed him for expensive trips the two of them took to locations including the Bahamas and Belize.
Wade received over $650,000 in fees for his work on the case, according to Fulton County records, and reportedly earned $250 an hour while working on the case against Trump, compared to $200 an hour for John Floyd, a RICO expert, as of May 2023, according to billing records obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. (RELATED: ‘A Very Bad Day’: Sol Wisenberg Says Fani Willis’ ‘Entire Office’ Should Be Booted From Trump Trial)
“There is a real advantage in splitting the baby in this way, because he does avoid the necessity of driving the case over the cliff, taking out the entire office, but that’s going to be the lingering question,” Turley said. “I think much of what the judge says is good faith and is credible that he just didn’t see the motivation of the relationship behind the case itself. The problem is what happened after the allegation. These two prosecutors did great harm to themselves and to their office by saying things that many of us do not believe are true.”
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