Trump’s Georgia judge suggests gag order possible for Willis

Georgia Judge Scott McAfee has indicated that he may issue a gag order that would prevent the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office from discussing the case against former President Trump and other defendants in public.

McAfee’s potential move comes as part of Friday’s long-awaited ruling in which Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis ruled that he can proceed with the prosecution as long as he removes the investigator with whom he had a romantic relationship from the team. surfaced.

The judge criticized Willis’ public statements suggesting race may have been a factor in the lawsuit he filed over his relationship with investigator Nathan Wade.

“It may be time to issue an order prohibiting the state from mentioning this case in any public forum to prevent a prejudicial pretrial hearing, but at this time,” McAfee said. There are no such allegations in court,” he said, hinting at that possibility.

In his 23-page ruling, the judge repeatedly criticized both his relationship with the district attorney and his public comments during testimony.

After being accused of having an affair with Wade, Willis defended Wade’s qualifications and role in the case in his first public comments.

She hinted that race has influenced criticism of their relationship because they are both black. Willis insisted that people were attacking only Wade, not the two other white special prosecutors hired on the case.

McAfee said his speech was aimed at “hurling racial slurs” at Mike Roman, one of Trump’s co-defendants who made the accusations that blocked the original proceedings. Ta.

Still, the judge ruled that Willis’ comments did not cross a line that would require her to be disbarred from the case entirely or that the former president was receiving an unfair trial.

McAfee argued that her comments “remain legally inappropriate.”

“Providing this type of public comment creates dangerous territory for the district attorney to venture further into,” he wrote.

The judge went so far as to say that a gag order could be imposed to prevent future jurors from being prejudiced by Willis’ comments.

McAfee also criticized Willis’ public comments about the controversy and the lawsuit over President Trump’s 2020 election interference efforts. He said it was an “unusual decision” for Willis to participate in an interview with the authors of a book about the Trump prosecution.

Most of the other co-defendants in Trump and Willis’ case have pleaded not guilty to making the changes themselves. McAfee’s ruling allows the case to proceed after either she or Wade are out.

A trial date has not yet been set, and the defendants are pending various motions to dismiss the case.