There's something about his throwing in the negatives after each comment that just doesn't sound right. People can change in 10 years. And his comment about valor before law doesn't sit right with me either. He came off as a soft peddler of shitgibbon negativity ploy. I may have totally misread everything because I've done that before.
I get trying to stay balanced in his judgements, My spidey sense just started to tingle when I read that article piece.
The repulsecans have also pushed the narrative that asshole can't be tried twice for the same crime because of the failed impeachment. I think that's dead wrong too.
Defendant Michael Roman’s lawyer filed a motion demanding District Attorney be removed from the RICO case that Fulton county is pursuing against former president Donald Trump and his co-conspirators, including Roman himself. Roman obviously has an incentive to use whatever dirt he can to delay the trial or even get the charges dropped. I don’t have any relevant information about the political leanings or overall reputation of his lawyer, Ashleigh Merchant.
So to recap- Wade bought her plane tickets, she paid him a higher rate than one of his colleagues. And then made a speech claiming that she paid them all the same. Furthermore, after all the hours were billed, Nathan Wade billed the most total hours of any contracted law office. To me it doesn’t look good.
Will this result in her removal from the case by the judge?
We don’t know. Fani Willis ally Norm Eisen has argued that Willis won’t be removed on account of the law. He regards this as a matter of “poor judgement”:
-- No one is praising Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s apparent romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, an attorney in private practice who she brought on board as a Special Prosecutor in the criminal investigation and now prosecution of Donald Trump and 18 co-defendants. We have not yet heard that much of Willis’s side of the story. However, based on what is known so far, it represents poor judgment—especially in a case of this magnitude, even if a prosecutor’s private life is generally none of the public’s business. Willis has already said publicly that she is “flawed” and “imperfect” in her public remarks at Bethel AME Church following the allegations. But whether there were personal failings is not the operative legal test for whether Willis or Wade should be disqualified from the case, and accordingly that question is not the focus of this essay. Prosecutors are human, and they can and do make mistakes. The question here is whether Willis’s and Wade’s apparent mistakes have any bearing on the election conspiracy prosecution in a way the law would require their removal from the case. --
I’m not a lawyer and I’m inclined to accept Norm’s reasoning for now and agree that it probably won’t result in her removal by the judge, but we will see. The judge has set Feb 2nd as a deadline for Willis’ response, and Feb 15th for a hearing.
If it doesn’t result in removal by the judge, why should we care?
Unfortunately for Willis, the judge isn’t the only person with the potential to remove her from the case. And whether or not she broke the law may not be relevant. Other people with the possibilty of removing her from the case include:
The Voters. Fani’s current term ends on Dec 31st, 2024. This sort of scandal that even your allies say shows poor judgement isn’t one most would want going into an election. But we’ll see.
-- The eight-person commission will consist of a five-member committee that can investigate district attorneys and a three-member hearing panel. The commissioners’ terms will formally begin in July 2024, the same month complaints can start to be filed. The commission’s members would be appointed by the governor, lieutenant governor and legislature in Georgia, which are all Republican-led.
...
The new law is widely believed to target Deborah Gonzalez, a Democrat who was elected the prosecutor in Athens-Clarke and Oconee counties in 2020. Gonzalez has adopted a number of criminal justice reforms, including not charging for simple possession of marijuana. She was also one of several district attorneys in Georgia who announced last year that she would not prosecute abortion-related crimes. --
-- So far, other key Georgia Republicans, including Gov. Brian Kemp and House Speaker Jon Burns, have fended off efforts by far-right lawmakers to use legislative powers to punish Willis and block the case.
“In Georgia, we will not be engaging in political theater that only inflames the emotions of the moment,” Kemp said in August about calls for a special session to impeach Willis and defund her office. --
However, this might be the scandal that changes that:
-- But the allegations against Willis and Wade threaten to unmoor that political protection from Kemp and other Republicans. Earlier this month, Kemp, who is expected to be a key witness against Trump, called the allegations against Willis “deeply troubling.”
“Evidence should be presented quickly in order for Judge McAfee to rule and the public to have confidence in this trial moving forward,” Kemp said.
Meanwhile, Burns said he would no longer oppose efforts to use the new state oversight board to target Willis, abandoning his earlier position. “The allegations against District Attorney Fani Willis are extremely troubling to say the least,” Burns said. “We need to let the process play out, but the public absolutely deserves transparency and the truth from the District Attorney about these serious allegations.” --
(my emphasis)
This is a big problem for Fani. If Kemp decides he can’t defend her, things will start looking very bad for her chances of remaining on the case. In more ominous news, Kemp may have an axe to grind with Willis’ hire, as he apparently pissed Kemp off during negotiations for a statement .. https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/19/nathan-wade-fani-willis-brian-kemp-trump-00136706 :
-- After lengthy, delicate talks between Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ team and Kemp’s lawyers, the two sides seemed to be inching toward a deal that would allow the governor to answer questions under oath, with some limitations.
Then Nathan Wade, a special prosecutor hired by Willis, jumped in and the talks collapsed into acrimony. Kemp’s lawyer immediately bristled at what he described as a “dramatic change of tone and sudden threat,” which prompted Willis herself to respond sharply in defense of Wade, one of her top lieutenants. --
Kemp is also supposed to testify against Trump, so Wade’s alleged behavior here could cause problems when the case goes to trial.
Fulton County Commissioner Bob Ellis (R) is now asking for an explanation:
-- Also, the Fulton County Board of Commissioners launched an inquiry Friday over Willis's possible misuse of county funds by hiring Wade and allegedly accepting valuable gifts such as paid joint trips from him. The move by County Commissioner Bob Ellis, in his capacity as Audit Committee Chair, "is a request for information at this stage, not an investigation," Ellis told USA TODAY Friday night. The move was first reported by The Washington Post.
"Separate from any potential inquiry by the State of Georgia, this situation requires confirmation of whether County funds provided for the operation of your office and its prosecutorial function were used in an appropriate manner, and whether any payments of County funds to Mr. Wade were converted to your personal gain in the form of subsidized travel or other gifts," Ellis wrote, according to a copy obtained by USA TODAY. --
And this list may not be exhaustive, I’m not familiar with all the ins and outs of Georgia state. Willis will have to convince enough of these people that what she did was acceptable. If she is removed from the case, or from office, it may result in significant delays.
Final thoughts
I think we can, or should, agree that a government official accepting gifts from a person she hired is a bad look. I think the average voter will regard this as a bad look. Even her ally, Norm Eisen, thinks it’s a bad look. Yes, the allegations did originate from an interested party on the right wing and have been amplified by known liar Donald Trump. However, they are in the process of being confirmed by independent sources. As such I don’t think it’s wise to dismiss them out of hand.
Willis may survive the trial motion. She may find she is kept on the trial, only to be removed by someone else at a later. We will see, but for now I’m not impressed with her judgement or her explanation.
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