Judge Says He Will Decide Whether To DQ Fani Willis Within Two Weeks

March 1, 2024
ATLANTA, GA - FEBRUARY 27: Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee presides during a hearing in the case of the State of Georgia v. Donald John Trump at the Fulton County Courthouse on February 27, 2024 in Atlanta,... ATLANTA, GA - FEBRUARY 27: Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee presides during a hearing in the case of the State of Georgia v. Donald John Trump at the Fulton County Courthouse on February 27, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. Witness and attorney Terrence Bradley testified as Judge McAfee considered an effort by lawyers for former President Donald Trump to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis over her romantic relationship with prosecutor Nathan Wade, who had been Bradley's law partner. (Photo by Brynn Anderson-Pool/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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March 1, 2024

The two month saga of Trumpworld’s attempt to disqualify Fulton County DA Fani Willis is drawing to a close after Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee heard closing arguments in the case on Friday.

The hearing focused only on arguments, with McAfee deeming the evidentiary portion over.

Defense attorneys took turns trying to persuade McAfee to adopt a light standard for disqualification: the appearance of a conflict of interest, not an actual conflict of interest. They also tried to convince him that it would be enough to find that Willis and prosecutor Nathan Wade misled the court about when the relationship began.

The DA’s Office countered in a meandering argument which gained steam at the end. Per the prosecutors, defense attorneys had failed to prove the substance of an actual conflict. The defense witnesses were out for vengeance, prosecutors said, and Willis had suffered harassment as a result.

McAfee said that he expected to issue a ruling, including on some of the factual questions, in two weeks.

Read our coverage below.

The hearing will be livestreamed here.

More Less

The two month saga of Trumpworld’s attempt to disqualify Fulton County DA Fani Willis is drawing to a close after Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee heard closing arguments in the case on Friday.

The hearing focused only on arguments, with McAfee deeming the evidentiary portion over.

Defense attorneys took turns trying to persuade McAfee to adopt a light standard for disqualification: the appearance of a conflict of interest, not an actual conflict of interest. They also tried to convince him that it would be enough to find that Willis and prosecutor Nathan Wade misled the court about when the relationship began.

The DA’s Office countered in a meandering argument which gained steam at the end. Per the prosecutors, defense attorneys had failed to prove the substance of an actual conflict. The defense witnesses were out for vengeance, prosecutors said, and Willis had suffered harassment as a result.

McAfee said that he expected to issue a ruling, including on some of the factual questions, in two weeks.

Read our coverage below.

Notable Replies

  1. I’m surprised at you Josh, you mentioned the motion regarding the cell phone records but failed to mention the AG’s response. I guess that’s par for the course when almost all media is ignoring Willis’ response. Here is a part of it:

    “The Court’s Standing Case Management Order for Criminal cases was specifically intended to prevent parties from ambushing opposing counsel with purported expert evidence without allowing opposing counsel a meaningful opportunity to review the evidence, review the purported expert’s report and qualifications, and obtain its own expert in rebuttal,” the state’s objection reads. “The Court cannot now allow Defendant Trump to bypass this protective procedure when, in other cases, it has excluded expert evidence for a party’s failure to follow the Standing Case Management Order for Criminal Cases.”

    It also states that the person trumps lawyer had reviewing the data is NOT AN EXPERT by the lawyers own admission. This type of information can only be presented to the court by an EXPERT.

  2. I can’t, for the life of me, pretend I care about any of this. Two consenting adults had sex. Big whoop!

    Let’s fry the big fish, for f sake, already!!!

  3. The look on Judge McAffee’s face says it all.

    “This is a colossal waste of everyone’s time. Please let us just move on to something more important, like a former President facing 91 felony counts in 4 separate trials. That seems slightly more important than this salacious side show.”

    -IMHO

  4. Not only did the defense utterly fail to prove their case, I think they ended up pissing off both Willis and Judge McAfee. Overall, I don’t think this sideshow helped the defense and it just might have hurt them.

  5. Worth noting that the Atlanta airport, dozens of hotels, hundreds of businesses and thousands of residences are within the area of the 2 cell phone towers.

    I’m curious as to how a subpoena for these cell phone geolocation records was obtained.

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