In the latest twist of what can only be dubbed the Fulton County Fiasco, District Attorney Fani Willis remains at the helm of the hot-button Georgia case against former President Donald Trump, despite a whirlwind of controversy swirling around her.
Fulton Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled that Willis can keep her post in prosecuting Trump, provided her beau, Nathan Wade, takes his leave. The decision has legal experts chirping that Willis’s best move for the case—and her career—might be to bow out gracefully, especially after McAfee’s less-than-glowing remarks on her conduct.
The judge, last week, didn’t mince words, hinting at an “odor of mendacity” clouding Willis’s testimony about her ties with Wade, who threw in the towel post-judgment. The drama unfolded over charges against Trump and 18 of his allies.
Yet, despite the green light for Willis to press forward, she’s staring down the barrel of potential challenges to her law license from the State Bar of Georgia, and possibly other state watchdogs—though, the consensus among the soothsayers is that these attempts will likely fizzle out given the current evidence.
Andrew George, a sharp-tongued trial lawyer and Georgetown Law adjunct, didn’t pull his punches when he told USA TODAY, “She survived today, she survived this opinion, but this is not going away.” George added, pointing to the shaky ground beneath Willis and Wade’s testimonies, that if Willis was found to have lied under oath, we might just see her disbarment—pending, of course, more solid proof.
Echoing this sentiment, Ryan Goodman, a law professor from NYU, remarked on CNN that McAfee’s “odor of mendacity” comment practically rolls out the red carpet for an ethics charge centered around dishonesty. Goodman’s bet? “I can’t imagine that somebody won’t take up that invitation – it just takes a group of lawyers to file an ethics complaint.”
Chandelle Summer, a seasoned Georgia attorney, anticipates the legal community won’t let Willis off easy, given the case’s political voltage. “It’s such a politically charged case, I don’t think they’re going to leave any stone unturned,” she noted to USA TODAY.
While Willis may have dodged a bullet for now, her victory is pyrrhic at best. Her role in this legal saga has her in the crosshairs of not only a potential bar review but also the U.S. House and a newly minted Georgia panel with the authority to oust rogue prosecutors. To top off her annus horribilis, a GOP challenger waits in the wings for her seat.
Meanwhile, Trump’s legal battles lumber on. With Willis at the wheel, the case is bogged down in delays, hinting at a possible strategic push to drag the proceedings past Election Day. And should Trump clinch another term, speculation is rife that he’d wield his executive might to quash, at the very least, the federal cases snapping at his heels.
So, as the saga unfolds, Willis’s decision to stay the course could either be her crowning achievement or her Achilles’ heel, in what has become a titanic clash of legal, political, and personal dramas. Only time will tell which way the gavel falls in this high-stakes game of political chess.