Trump, Georgia attorneys clash in final Fani Willis disqualification arguments

Lawyers for former President Trump and his Georgia co-defendants made their final argument Friday to disqualify Georgia’s Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D), citing her romantic relationship with a senior prosecutor. Attacked gender and motivation.

After hearing three hours of court arguments, Judge Scott McAfee said he hopes to issue a ruling within the next two weeks.

“I think the discussions that took place today have made it very clear that there are some legal issues that need to be sorted out and that we have to make a fact-based decision,” McAfee said. “And those are not things I can make at the moment. Therefore, I intend to take my time and give this matter due consideration.”

The judge is now tasked with deciding whether Willis and his office should be blocked from continuing to prosecute Trump and his allies, a decision that could lead to Georgia’s historic election interference case. will affect the future of Trump has pleaded not guilty to this charge, as well as three other criminal charges.

Friday’s arguments ended a nearly two-month battle over whether Willis’ romance with special counsel Nathan Wade constituted a conflict of interest. Both sides now acknowledge their relationship, but say calls for him to step down are meaningless.

“The motion to disqualify should be denied. And Mr. Willis, as the Fulton County district attorney, and Mr. Wade, as the special prosecutor in charge of this case, should be allowed to stay on the case and continue prosecuting it.” County Chief Deputy Adam Abbert said. The district attorney spoke on behalf of the state.

The defense argued that McAfee needed just the appearance of a collision to disqualify Willis, but the state argued that an actual collision was necessary. The judge has previously said he may consider both ways of weighing the evidence and that his sentence could depend on which method he chooses.

“Do we need to find out that Wade and Willis lied? No,” Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead attorney in the case, told the judge.

“What we have to find is that based on the evidence in this case, there are legitimate concerns about its veracity,” Sadow continued. “It’s a legitimate concern about veracity, and this is tantamount to appearing inappropriate.”

The Fulton County Prosecutor’s Office countered that the appearance of fraud is “not the norm” in Georgia.

“The defense must show an actual conflict. In this case, the actual conflict is that Ms. Willis received a financial benefit or gain that was based on the outcome of the case. No,” Abate said. .

The defense contends that Willis and Wade did not truthfully testify under oath about the timeline of their relationship. Prosecutors said the two began dating in early 2022, but the defense contends their relationship began years earlier, before Wade was hired to prosecute Trump.

Testimony from Ms Willis’ former friend Robin Yearty and text messages from Mr Wade’s former law partner Terrence Bradley coincide with the defense’s suggestion that the relationship began in 2019 after the judicial conference. We are doing so.

Yearty said there was “no doubt” that Willis and Wade began dating in 2019, and Bradley said he had “no doubt” that Willis and Wade started dating in 2019, and that Bradley had texted him with defense attorney Ashley Merchant, who filed the original motion to disbar the prosecutor. In the message, he said their relationship “definitely” began that year.

However, on the witness stand, Mr. Bradley described his statements as “speculation,” raising questions about their credibility. Mr. Trump’s lawyer, Mr. Sadow, asked the judge to take Mr. Bradley’s personal communications at face value, not his testimony.

“‘Absolutely’ is not a speculative word,” Sadow said. “That’s not speculation. It’s a definitive statement.”

Meanwhile, prosecutors described Bradley as a “disgruntled and vengeful speculator” and similarly attacked the credibility of other defense witnesses.

“You can separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to credibility,” John Merchant, a lawyer representing Trump co-defendant Michael Roman, told the judge.

“Look at it all together and judge, they did this, they knew it was wrong, they hid it. And even when they were accused of it, they did it after the fact. I tried to make an excuse for it by saying it happened,’” Merchant said.

Even if the judge finds that the prosecutor lied, it is still unclear whether the judge will go so far as to disqualify the prosecutor.

McAfee pressed the defense on Friday: “Where in the law is there a remedy for false statements?” “Normally, we’ll drop you off down the street to the bar.”