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Donald Trump's legal team has been able to flip the script on Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, accusing the prosecutor of the same type of corruption and improper behavior that she's alleged about the former president.
"The defendants (plural, not just or even originally Donald Trump) have effectively identified and pursued an issue in court and in the media that has––at least for now––changed the narrative in the Georgia election RICO case," former federal prosecutor and elected state attorney Michael McAuliffe told Newsweek.
A grand jury indicted Trump and 18 others in August for allegedly violating Georgia's racketeering laws by engaging in a conspiracy to interfere with the results of the state's 2020 election. Trump himself is facing 13 counts in the 41-count indictment, including six counts of conspiracy.
But in the last two months, Trump, with the help of co-defendant Michael Roman, has been able to build a case accusing Willis of misconduct after revealing her romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, whom she hired to help prosecute the sweeping RICO case.
Their relationship was first made public by a filing from Roman's attorney, who argued Willis' hiring of Wade was enough to disqualify the district attorney from the case and to have the charges against her client dropped.
In the weeks since, Judge Scott McAfee, who is presiding over the case, has held hearings on the disqualification matter, during which he even suggested that Willis could be removed if the allegations prove true.
Trump and his co-defendants have been able to submit additional evidence to the court, including phone records that put Wade at Willis' home before their relationship allegedly began. The new data and testimony have undercut the couple's claim that they did not become romantically involved until after he joined the prosecution.
The allegations could been devastating to what has been seen as the most damaging of Trump's four criminal indictments. Many legal analysts have described it as being the strongest challenge to Trump, and because it's brought under Georgia's unique law, it is also the only case where if Trump is found guilty, a sitting president wouldn't have the ability to pardon him.
Trump is currently polling ahead of President Joe Biden in a hypothetical 2024 matchup.
McAuliffe said that the issue of the personal relationship, by itself, isn't anything that can be used as a defense and, on its merits, doesn't have anything to do with the actual RICO case or the allegations being made against Trump and his allies.
"However, the defense attorneys have successfully amplified a side issue, and with the tacit cooperation of Scott McAfee, a relatively inexperienced presiding judge, created a bonfire in the field," he said. "The flames have become too big to ignore until something or someone puts it out."
McAuliffe said the judge should exercise more control over the proceedings by avoiding multiple-day hearings like the one held earlier this month because it becomes a "trial-like spectacle" that is "unnecessary" in resolving the allegations of prosecutorial impropriety. He implored McAfee to quickly issue an order on the disqualification matter if he wants the case to move forward.
McAuliffe also pointed to Willis' own inexperience for creating "the opportunity in the first place for the defense counsel to make mischief," arguing that the district attorney should have expected that attorneys for the defendants would have looked for something like this to seek her disqualification from the case.
Atlanta-based criminal defense lawyer Richard Lawson said the misconduct allegations should be "irrelevant," but that if Willis timeline of the relationship proves to be false, she could be caught lying under oath.
"The argument that the relationship was somehow enriching Ms. Willis would have been embarrassing but not sufficient to remove her from the case," Lawson told Newsweek. "The real issue is the potential perjury trap laid by the defense."
"If it is shown that DA Willis lied under oath, then the judge will have no choice but to remove her from the case and potentially refer her to the State Bar for discipline and even the Georgia Attorney General for prosecution. Perjury is a felony in Georgia," he said. "Essentially, a politically embarrassing moment may have turned into something that could threaten her career."
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About the writer
Katherine Fung is a Newsweek senior reporter based in New York City. She has covered U.S. politics and culture extensively. ... Read more