MSNBC legal analyst Barbara McQuade explained Thursday what could happen to President-elect Donald Trump's case following the disqualification of Fulton County District Attorney Fannie Willis.
The Georgia Court of Appeals on Thursday disqualified Willis, citing “appearances of fraud,” but declined to completely dismiss the charges against Trump. Trump's case is likely to be ultimately dismissed, similar to the fate of Willis' case against Georgia Lieutenant Governor Bert Jones, who was also disqualified, McQuaid wrote on “The Andrea Mitchell Report.” He said he expected that. (Related: CNN's Elie Honig says proposal to delay Trump's sentencing until after he takes office is 'ridiculous')
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“Before any other action is taken, I think Willis will appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court, but don't get me wrong, this is a terrible blow to the prosecution…If this continues, the courts here will consider her disqualified. “But the indictment remains the same,” McQuaid said. “What we see is what we saw in the case of one of the defendants, Lieutenant Governor Bert Jones. As you may remember, Fani Willis was running a fundraiser for her opponents. I did, but I was disqualified from the case.”
“This caused the entire case to be kicked out of her office because if a prosecutor is disqualified, the whole prosecutor is disqualified, which means it goes to the coordinating attorney in Central Georgia, where the case is further processed. “A decision was made whether to proceed, and in that case the head of the organization stated that the case against Bert Jones should not proceed any further,” she continued. “And we're hopeful that we might see the same results here at RICO.” [Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations] Indictment. “
Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney in 2022 moved the district attorney's indictment against Willis from Jones, then a state senator and running for lieutenant governor, for hosting a fundraiser for a Democratic opponent. Deprived. NBC News reported. McBurney said Willis' participation in the fundraiser would be “prejudicial” to the investigation into Jones' alleged involvement in an attempt to overturn the state's election results by shuffling the state's 2020 electoral rolls. handed down the verdict.
Peter SkandalakisIn September, the executive director of the Georgia Prosecuting Attorneys Council announced that Jones would no longer face criminal charges for this alleged crime. According to In the New York Times.
John Yoo, a former Justice Department official for President George W. Bush, said Thursday that it was unlikely another Georgia district attorney would take over the case against Trump following Willis' disqualification.
“It's hard to see another Georgia district attorney taking this flawed case and trying to prosecute Mr. Trump on the theory that his re-election campaign was some sort of criminal organized crime enterprise,” he said. .
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