Re: Expert: "Almost impossible" to prosecute Trump before election if Fani Willis is disqualified

[Fat Lying Fani]

On 28 Feb 2022, Lefty Lundquist <lefty_l...@ggmail.com> posted some
news:svjnhc$4q3$2...@dont-email.me:

> The black dishonest whore deserves every turd that comes her way.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Nathan Wade, one of her
top prosecutors working on the sprawling racketeering case in Georgia
against former President Donald Trump and others, have been subpoenaed to
testify at a hearing next month regarding allegations that the two were
involved in an improper “romantic relationship,” according to a lawsuit
filed Tuesday.

The subpoenas were initiated on behalf of Michael Roman, a former
operative from Trump's 2020 presidential campaign who is one of 15
remaining defendants in the racketeering case that accuses Trump of
orchestrating efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results
in Georgia.

The lawsuit accuses the Fulton County district attorney's office of
"intentionally withholding information,” and "stonewalling" the attorney,
Ashleigh Merchant, in her attempts to acquire records from the office
using public information requests, ABC News reported.

Willis has come under significant public scrutiny following initial
allegations that she derived financial benefits from a romantic
relationship with the lead prosecutor, who the filings claim financed
extravagant vacations with Willis using funds his law firm received from
Fulton County.

“If it is found that Wade and Willis had an improper relationship
beginning before she hired him as special counsel, it could lead to state
or federal charges because D.A. Willis may have financially benefitted
from an undisclosed personal relationship at taxpayer expense,” Andrew
Fleischman, Atlanta defense attorney, told Salon.

Willis hired Wade to assist with the case against Trump and his co-
defendants. Roman has claimed that the two prosecutors benefited
financially from the arrangement. While some legal experts have urged the
district attorney to recuse herself to protect the case's integrity,
sources told CNN that she is unlikely to take that step.

The allegations surrounding the supposed relationship between Wade and
Willis were raised in a filing earlier this month that lacked any
supporting evidence. Without citing any evidence, Roman claimed that Wade
had been paid more than $650,000 by the district attorney's office and
financed trips for the pair to places like Napa Valley, Florida and the
Caribbean.

Besides pursuing the dismissal of his charges, Roman is also pushing for
Willis to be disqualified from the case.

The allegations can impact the case because if Willis is disqualified, it
will be “almost impossible” to find another prosecutor to take the case
before the election, and because it will “strengthen claims of bias and
corruption” that defense attorneys may raise at trial, Fleischman said.

The issuing of subpoenas may pave the way for a high-stakes confrontation
involving Willis and Wade. Despite their previous silence on the matter,
they may now find themselves compelled to testify under oath in the
televised hearing scheduled for Feb. 15, ABC News reported.

Trump and other co-defendants are aiming to leverage these allegations to
request the removal of Willis and Wade from the case, potentially leading
to the dismissal of the indictment.

The hearing can play out in one of two ways, Fleischman suggested. In one
scenario, there could be no conflict of interest found and the case
proceeds as it was.

“Defense counsel will almost certainly ask for a pretrial appeal, which
they may or may not get,” Fleischman said. “If that happens, the case will
be significantly delayed. If no pretrial appeal is granted, the
disqualification issue will be preserved for appeal and any convictions
procured at trial may be reversed.”

In the event that a conflict of interest is found, Willis and her entire
office will be disqualified. The Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia
will select a new prosecutor, eventually. That new prosecutor will try the
case in Fulton County, and must decide whether to try the case as
“indicted, simplify it, or dismiss it,” he explained.

Merchant, who made the misconduct allegations against Willis earlier this
month, asserts in her new lawsuit that the D.A.'s office deliberately
hindered her ongoing attempts to collect information on the issue,
suggesting an intentional effort to delay the process, ABC News reported.

"It is evidence that the [Fulton County District Attorney] has withheld
the records without substantial justification," the complaint stated.
"Indeed, it appears that [Fulton County DA's Office] is acting
intentionally and in an effort to hide from public view public documents
showing how [the office] has spent public monies related to the operation
of the office."

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The complaint alleges a violation of the state's Open Records Act by the
office, detailing several open records requests submitted by Merchant to
the office, some dating back to September. The lawsuit contends that these
requests were either ignored, partially responded to, or met with
assertions that the records did not exist, the outlet reported.

It's “not very serious” that the D.A.'s office may have violated the Open
Records Act, Fleischman said, adding that there's often litigation around
this law, and it usually settles out of court.

In a letter sent on Friday, the D.A.'s office informed Merchant that they
"respectfully disagree with your disingenuous implication" of violating
the Open Records Act, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The
letter stated that the office has fulfilled all 14 of her requests,
including 12 recently filed ones.

https://news.yahoo.com/expert-almost-impossible-prosecute-trump-
200417636.html