Fani Willis 'Clown Show' Slammed by Democrat Running Against Judge McAfee

The Democrat challenging Scott McAfee, the Fulton County judge presiding over Donald Trump's election interference case in Georgia, in his reelection bid slammed the "clown show" in the disqualification hearings concerning county District Attorney Fani Willis.

In a Wednesday interview on the Shelley Wynter Show podcast, civil rights attorney and talk radio host Robert Patillo criticized the recent court proceedings, saying that they embarrassed Atlanta and made the city look like "a giant reality show."

"Tell me that looks like a well-run courtroom and tell me that looks like what justice should look like in this county," he said. "They've allowed it to turn into a clown show.... The people of Fulton County have had enough of that and are truly looking for a voice that's from the outside, that's not part of either political party's machine and is more interested in being that third rail."

Patillo confirmed to Newsweek on Thursday that he plans to qualify to run against McAfee, a Superior Court judge, in the state's May 21 primary election, during which Georgia voters will also vote on judges and other nonpartisan offices. Patillo is the former executive director of the Atlanta-based social justice and civil rights group founded by the Reverend Jesse Jackson, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.

McAfee, a former county and federal prosecutor who has been overseeing Georgia's racketeering case against Trump and 18 co-defendants, will appear on the ballot for the first time this year. He was appointed to the Superior Court position by Governor Brian Kemp in December 2022 following the retirement of Judge Christopher Brasher. He assumed office in February 2023.

Candidates have until noon Friday to qualify for the ballot. Patillo said he hopes to have his campaign running by Monday.

While McAfee has earned praise from legal scholars for his handling of the case, Willis supporters have criticized his decision to allow the evidentiary hearing on the misconduct allegations against her.

The Fulton County DA is under fire for her personal relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, whom she hired for the Georgia case and whom Trump and his co-defendants allege was improperly paid by Willis' office through public funds. They are seeking to disqualify her from prosecuting what is seen as the strongest criminal case against the former president among his four indictments.

Joyce Vance, a former federal prosecutor, cautioned in a Sunday blog post that McAfee's reelection campaign would likely "add a whole new dimension to the past few weeks of theatrics in the Fulton County case."

Although Georgia's Superior Court judge offices are nonpartisan and most sitting judges are reelected, Fulton County leans Democratic. It has not voted for a Republican presidential candidate since Richard Nixon in 1972. In 2020, President Joe Biden carried the county, which stretches across the heart of metro Atlanta, with more than 72 percent of the vote, and Hillary Clinton won Fulton with almost 68 percent of the vote in 2016.

Noting the county's Democratic lean, conservative talk show host Megyn Kelly warned that McAfee would need "a rock-solid spine to [disqualify] Fani Willis now," suggesting he may avoid doing so to better his chances for reelection. Responding to Kelly's tweet calling Patillo's candidacy "terrible news for Team Trump," Patillo said, "They scared of little ole me?"

In his interview with Wynter, Patillo noted that he's voted both Democrat and Republican in the past and said he was not running against McAfee because of the Trump case or the Willis disqualification matter.

Patillo said that while "a lot of people seem to want to make my announcement or this entire race about the Trump case," he began thinking about running before McAfee was even appointed, at the time Brasher retired.

"This has little to nothing to do with the Willis case," he said. "This has to do more so with 15 years in the courtroom in Fulton County and seeing just the way that system has been run."

Patillo praised Willis for the speed with which she is prosecuting the Trump case, saying that was the speed "all cases should go at." But he said he had appeared in court with Willis in the past and "we didn't particularly get along during those cases."

To serve on the Superior Court, judges must be a resident of Georgia for at least three years, a resident of the circuit they represent, admitted to practice law for at least seven years and at least 30 years old. Judges in the state's Superior Courts are elected to four-year terms.

McAfee, who previously led the state's Office of the Inspector General and served as an assistant U.S. attorney, is running on a platform focused on clearing the backlog of cases left by the COVID pandemic, providing a path forward for nonviolent offenders and holding violent offenders accountable.

Patillo, on the other hand, is focusing on bringing "competence, compassion and change to the Fulton County Superior Court," he told Newsweek.

To do so, he said, judges should have career experience outside of prosecution, having worked as a defense counsel or in civil litigation. That means the county should have more restorative justice programs for juvenile offenders, he said, and should reduce case wait times to "create the most efficient court system in the country."

Asked about Patillo's campaign, McAfee told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday, "Whoever qualifies, I look forward to making my case to the voters, proving my track record shows that I am the best candidate to provide Fulton County with efficient, unbiased, and nonpartisan application of the law."