MSNBC legal analyst Andrew Weissmann called for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to recuse herself from her George election racketeering case focused on former President Donald Trump and a number of his allies.
Weissmann, also a professor and co-host of the Prosecuting Donald Trump podcast, defended Willis against allegations of a conflict of interest, noting Judge Scott McAfee said there was no evidence of that. McAfee ordered that either Willis or special prosecutor Nathan Wade be removed from the case. Willis was accused of engaging in an intimate relationship with Wade before he was hired onto the case, something they both denied. They did admit to a short relationship that began afterwards.
Weissmann called the ruling by McAfee “absolutely infuriating” on Friday’s Morning Joe shortly after it was released.
In his ruling, McAfee accused Willis of giving “unprofessional” testimony during evidentiary hearings and said she and Wade displayed a “lapse in judgement.”
Weissmann argued McAfee likely knew removing Willis from the case would have meant the death of the charges as another Georgia office would need to take on the case and be equipped to handle such complicated indictments. Trump and his allies are accused of attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia. The former president has attacked the case as a witch hunt, similar to how he’s described his other legal troubles.
Weissmann recommended Willis recuse herself from the Trump case and appoint someone else to oversee the operation. He called the McAfee ruling an almost “fatal blow” to Willis as a prosecutor.
“The key is how to go forward because clearly Wade is off, but I think this is such a huge body blow, almost a fatal blow to Fani Willis,” he said. “I think the way forward is she has to voluntarily recuse herself. I don’t know that she has it in her, but I think she has to say I’m going to appoint a chief assistant who is going to oversee this case. She clearly has no credibility with this judge.”
Watch above via MSNBC.
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