Renowned constitutional scholar and Harvard Law School professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz delivered scathing remarks to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on Friday following the judge’s decision to retain her in the case pertaining to her prosecution of former President Donald Trump and eighteen co-defendants.
Judge Scott McAfee of Superior Court ruled earlier in the day that Willis is not disqualified and will continue to work on the Trump case. However, he also stated that the appearance of a conflict of interest in the racketeering case was caused by the romantic relationship between Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade. As a result, the prosecutors were barred from managing the case moving forward unless either Wade or Willis resigned.
Wade gave in later on Friday.
But Dershowitz trashed Willis in a Newsmax TV appearance, claiming there was “overwhelming” evidence that she had lied on the stand about the start of her connection with Wade and that she had profited financially from it.
A criminal inquiry against Fani Willis and the two witnesses is necessary. Dershowitz stated, “I think we are well beyond disqualification,” but he wasn’t sure “if the judge would actually have the courage” to rule that way.
“[T]he documented record now reveals a strong appearance of impropriety that permeates the prosecution team’s current structure—an appearance that needs to be eliminated by the State choosing between two choices. Thus, in part, the Defendants’ requests are granted,” McAfee stated in his 23-page decision.
Lisa Rubin detailed how terrible this is for Willis and her staff in a breaking news piece that MSNBC aired on Friday regarding the ruling:
We have a decision from Judge Scott McAfee of the Fulton County Superior Court. In a 23-page decision this morning, he finds that there is not an actual conflict of interest that was proven by the defendants here, but he also finds that there is significant appearance of impropriety that infects the entire current structure of the prosecution team.
Therefore, he gives Fani Willis a choice. She can either choose to remove herself and her entire office from the prosecution of this case, or she can determine that Nathan Wade, the special assistant district attorney, who has been helming the leadership of this case, can himself be removed from the case, which would allow her and the remainder of the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office to go forward. Mika, that’s a victory for Fani Willis here.
But that having been said, despite the fact that she has been given an easy choice here, notwithstanding that, there is plenty here for the Trump folks to exploit. In particular, he finds that there was a failure to be as completely honest with the tribunal as these folks should have been. The quote that is really sticking in my mind right now is when he talks about the testimony of Nathan Wade and Fani Willis.