One way or another, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should know by the end of the week whether she can continue prosecuting former President Donald Trump on election interference charges.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee says he expects to meet his self-imposed deadline for deciding whether to rule in favor of defense attorneys, who contend Willis’ case is compromised by romantic conflicts of interest, or in favor of the prosecution, which argued that strict legal precedent should keep her in charge of the case, rather than having to pass it off to someone else.
It’s a heavily scrutinized case, not only locally but nationally.
“I gave myself a deadline because I knew everyone wanted an answer,” McAfee said on WSB Radio’s Shelley Wynter Show. “And I’ll tell you that an order like this takes time to write.”
McAfee says politics won’t affect Willis ruling
McAfee, a conservative who will face two liberal attorneys in a Fulton County primary in May, is adamant that politics will not play a role in his decision, that he intends to “play it straight” so that he won’t be embarrassed to tell his children — currently 5 and 3 years old — how he ruled when they get old enough to understand years from now.
“There is a lot that I have to go through,” McAfee said. “And so, I’ve had – and again I’ll emphasize this – I’ve had a rough draft in an outline before I ever heard a rumor that someone wanted to run for this position, so the result is not going to change because of politics.”
The two weeks that McAfee gave himself to complete his ruling will expire on Friday, March 15.
“I am calling [it] as best I can and the law as I understand it,” he said. “So, I still feel like I’m on track to having that done by the deadline that I put on myself.”
Trump faces 13 state charges for allegedly trying to overturn Georgia’s election results. Four of his 18 co-defendants have pleaded guilty. Willis has sought to begin the trial in August, but the timetable is solely in McAfee’s hands. And there is much at stake.
Willis disqualification would sidetrack case
Trump and the remaining 14 co-defendants hope Willis is disqualified. It will almost certainly give the former President enough delay that he could conceivably return to the White House as the 47th President of the United States and more easily claim executive immunity for four more years. The 22nd Amendment of the Constitution would bar him from running for reelection, but by 2029, who knows if the legal system will have the same stomach for prosecuting a crime that took place eight years earlier?
If Willis were disqualified, it would take a new prosecutor time to get up to speed, depose witnesses, and line up evidence. The case would effectively be sidetracked well past August.
Trump’s defense team has left no stone unturned in its attempt to compromise, humiliate, and discredit Willis, whose romance with special prosecutor Nathan Wade has put her uncharacteristically on the defensive, even though technically she’s not on trial. She faces no criminal charges. Trump’s team just wants to create an appearance of impropriety to smear her and buy Trump time.
McAfee has gone on record saying that even the appearance of impropriety could be enough to force him to rule against Willis. However, he also has an appearance of impropriety regarding his own ruling. He must weigh whether ruling against Willis would be perceived as partisan bias.
Of course, knocking Willis off the case is only one domino that Trump needs to fall. He is still facing a classified documents case in Florida. And in New York, Trump has asked state Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan to pause his March 25 criminal hush money trial until the U.S. Supreme Court rules just how far his claims of presidential immunity reach.
