OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
The Fulton County judge presiding over District Attorney Fani Willis’ RICO case against former President Donald Trump could face discipline after she survived dismissal earlier this month.
Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee warned Willis could face a gag order that would prevent her from discussing the case in public, The Epoch Times reports.
The outlet added:
Her speech came just days after allegations surfaced that she engaged in an improper relationship with special counsel Nathan Wade, whom she appointed to head the Trump election interference case in Georgia.
During the speech, Ms. Willis invoked the “race card” without citing evidence of racial animus and criticized a Fulton County Commissioner “and so many others” for criticizing her decision to hire Mr. Wade.
“In these public and televised comments, the District Attorney complained that a Fulton County Commissioner ‘and so many others’ questioned her decision to hire SADA Wade. When referring to her detractors throughout the speech, she frequently utilized the plural ‘they,’” McAfee wrote.
“The State argues the speech was not aimed at any of the Defendants in this case. Maybe so. But maybe not. Therein lies the danger of public comment by a prosecuting attorney,” his order noted further. “By including a reference to ‘so many others’ on the heels of Defendant Roman’s motion which instigated the entire controversy, the District Attorney left that question open for the public to consider.
“The Court cannot find that this speech crossed the line to the point where the Defendants have been denied the opportunity for a fundamentally fair trial, or that it requires the District Attorney’s disqualification,” he stated.
“But it was still legally improper. Providing this type of public comment creates dangerous waters for the District Attorney to wade further into,” McAfee wrote.
Meanwhile, Democratic lawyer Julian Epstein slammed Willis for defiantly remaining on 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.”
Last week, Trump’s legal team won a victory in the case after McAfee allowed him and some other co-defendants to appeal his order denying the disqualification of Willis.
