Fani Willis Hearing Is 'Ridiculous Double Standard'—Attorney

The hearing to determine wrongdoing by Fani Willis shows a "ridiculous double standard," an attorney has said.

Speaking on the Legal AF podcast by MeidasTouch, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, former chief assistant district attorney of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, called efforts to remove Willis from a Donald Trump case "really appalling."

Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, is running the case against Trump and 18 others who are accused in a 41-count indictment of trying to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia. The former president has pleaded not guilty to all 13 charges against him and said the case is politically motivated.

Following accusations made by former Trump staffer and co-defendant Michael Roman that she hired a special prosecutor she was having an affair with, Nathan Wade, Judge Scott McAfee, who is overseeing Trump's trial, has scheduled a hearing about the matter on February 15. Newsweek reached out to Willis via LinkedIn for comment.

Roman said the pair had benefited financially from taxpayers' money. Willis and Wade later admitted they had a romantic relationship, but denied a conflict of interest. In response, Roman issued new claims saying the pair's relationship started earlier than they had disclosed.

Agnifilo said the hearing "irritates" her. "What really just irritates me about the whole Fani Willis thing it just gets under my skin because it is just such a ridiculous double standard that we have here for Fani Willis for women, for strong women, for women of color, I've seen it a million times," she said.

She added that there was "irony" because Trump was found to have sexually assaulted journalist E. Jean Carroll but he has not been disqualified from office. A New York City jury awarded Carroll $5 million in damages in May, ruling that Trump had sexually assaulted her and was civilly liable for defamation.

"Somehow that is not disqualifying for the highest office but Fani Willis is in a consensual adult relationship with somebody and that there is a hearing happening about this," Agnifilo added. "I think it's atrocious and I just want to call it out because the double standard here is just really appalling."

Thursday's hearing will determine whether Willis be removed from the case. On Tuesday, David Shafer, a former chairman of the state Republican Party who has been charged with racketeering in connection with his efforts to help Trump overturn the 2020 election, submitted additional court filings to the motion seeking to disqualify Willis, claiming Wade lied in divorce proceedings by not disclosing his affair with Willis.

On Tuesday, McAfee, who is presiding over the case, said that Willis' disqualification was "possible" if the allegations about the DA prove to be true. McAfee agreed that Roman's attorneys "established a good faith basis for relevance" for Willis to testify in an evidentiary hearing, which the judge said "must occur."

Speaking to Newsweek, Scott Lucas, a professor in international politics at University College Dublin, said through this hearing, Trump was trying to get the court to throw out his Georgia case or play out the clock so he can win the 2024 presidential election and then throw the case out himself.

"The Trump tactic is to throw mud at the wall and see what sticks," he said.

He said that Trump may not like Willis because she is a women of color and added: "He will feed red meat to his supports saying 'this is a horrible Black woman who has a vendetta against me.'"

Newsweek contacted representatives for Trump by email to comment on this story.