OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Democratic attorney Julian Epstein is slamming Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis for defiantly remaining on former President Donald Trump’s election interference case.
During an interview on “The Brian Kilmeade Show,” Epstein discussed efforts to get Willis off of the election interference case, saying the judge was “right” to allow the Trump team to appeal the case.
“Well, I think if Fani Willis had any real interest in this case, she would resign or recuse herself from it. This is an utter embarrassment. I mean, this looks to me like, in my opinion, this was a kickback scheme, where she hired a boyfriend who was then providing her all kinds of benefits,” Epstein said.
“I think the whole claim about, the reimbursements, is hard to believe. I think the claims about when the relationship began. I think those are very hard to believe. I think the judge was right to allow the Trump team to appeal. And, I think there’s not just that question about whether she should be kicked off the case. So I think there’s a question, potentially about perjury, moving forward that the state could take up and the legislature is going to look into. So I think there is, I mean, just, you know, the standard in Georgia is the major conflict or the apparent civil conflict,” Epstein added.
Epstein continued, “And given that there is a strong appearance that Barney Lewis had any economic incentive for the case to move forward, I don’t know how you argue this is not an unbelievable conflict. In any case, this is an utter embarrassment, for the, you know, amongst many other embarrassments for, the … crowd that is, you know, prosecuting Trump in the 11th hour of this campaign.”
The judge in Georgia overseeing the case of election interference against Trump has allowed him and his co-defendants to appeal the order that denied the disqualification of Wills.
Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee issued a certificate of immediate review on Wednesday, which enables Trump and eight co-defendants to seek an appeal of the order.
The defense has 10 days to apply to the Georgia Court of Appeals, which will have 45 days to decide whether they will hear the case from March 15, when the order was issued. It is important to note that, under Georgia law, the Georgia Court of Appeals is not required to hear the case.
Speaking to Fox News on Thursday, Trump lawyer Alina Habba explained why the former president’s legal team thinks the Georgia case against him should be dismissed.
She said: “What they argued today was very simple. A president has a right to speak—a human being, an American. This country is based on the constitutional First Amendment rights to speech.”
“He had that right and he did so. He has also a right as the executive branch to question and provide election integrity. God knows out country needs that right now…so that’s why we’re looking at this from a serious standpoint of constitutional violations.”
Steve Sadow, a lawyer for Donald Trump, argued during the court hearing on Thursday that his client’s remarks contesting the outcome of the 2020 election in Georgia fell under the First Amendment because they were a part of “core value political discourse,” regardless of their factual accuracy.
He said: “There is nothing alleged factually against President Trump that is not political speech. Take out the political speech. No criminal charges.”
McAfee has not yet announced the date for his decision on the motion to dismiss filed by Trump’s legal team. The motion is based on the First Amendment.
Earlier this month, McAfee allowed Willis to proceed with the prosecution despite finding fault with her “tremendous lapse of judgment” regarding her relationship with Nathan Wade, a special prosecutor on the case.
However, McAfee stated that Willis could continue running the case only if Wade was removed. The special prosecutor resigned almost immediately after the ruling.
