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Trump’s Georgia election interference case paused as court considers disqualifying lead prosecutor

Court pauses Trump’s Georgia election case as it mulls disqualifying prosecutor

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/05/trump-georgia-appeals-court-pauses-election-interference-case

Appeals court halts case while it considers whether to remove Fani Willis, the Fulton county district attorney

Court pauses Trump’s Georgia election case as it mulls disqualifying prosecutor

To quote the related NYT article, "The order means the prosecution of Donald J. Trump in Georgia is effectively frozen, at least through the presidential election."

10 comments

Nightwingdragon

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Honestly, if this case falls apart, it's all on her.

Her relationship with Wade really should be her own business and irrelevant to the case. But when you're talking about what would be far and away the most important case in her career and in this country's history, you don't do anything that would even hint at the possibility of impropriety or conflict of interest. Especially against this defendant. Shoot at the king, you best not miss and all of that.

If Trump skates on this case, it's 100% on her. At this point in her career, she should have known better than to do anything that would give a whiff of impropriety once the spotlight was on her.

jwelch55

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Fuck that, we should not expect people to give up their personal lives and their relationships to appease psychos.

tate

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She stood for election to public office. During the campaign she literally said that she would not have sex with her employees (referring obliquely to a scandal of her predecessor).

She fucked up.

kikutwo

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We don't expect that. But we do expect someone who went to law school would have the brain to see the apparent conflicts, appearance problems, and not hire them to work on the most high profile case she will ever work on.

Nightwingdragon

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This wasn't a couple of teenage lovebirds who didn't know any better. These are two career lawyers who were playing shell games with money to hide an affair while bringing charges against one of the most powerful people in the country, with unlimited resources, and a decades-long track record of finding ways to exploit even the most irrelevant weakness he can find to get his way. This was poor judgement at best.

Omodi

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There is no hint of a conflict of interest. She and her boyfriend are on the same side. There is a suggestion of corruption. She might be funneling public money to her boyfriend but that should not really undermine the case against Trump.

Nightwingdragon

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There is a suggestion of corruption. She might be funneling public money to her boyfriend but that should not really undermine the case against Trump.

Go back and watch their testimony at the hearing. Saying there is a "suggestion of corruption" is like saying "Trump may have told a fib or two in his time". They were playing all sorts of shell games with the money and doing everything they could to cover it up, which means they knew their behavior was improper at best. Every case they worked on together was tainted by their actions because their relationship and the actions they were taking at the very least give the appearance of impropriety, even if they didn't specifically do anything improper regarding the Trump case. And the appearance of impropriety is typically the standard for recusal.

She shouldn't have gotten involved with Wade in the first place while handling such an important case. But beyond that, as soon as the scandal broke, they should have at least tried to salvage the case by recusing themselves and handing the case off to someone else. And now, the fact that they didn't had the effect of giving Trump exactly what he wants, as the case is now going to be delayed at the very least (some estimates say the delay could take the case to as far as 2026) or outright dismissed if either the appelate court or Supreme court rules that she should have been removed.

And for the record, Trump case aside, I'm of the school of thought that she should be fired and/or disbarred just based on the relationship she had with Wade. And I think if she weren't caught up in such a high profile case, she would have been.

itsonlygeorge

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Can she just quit as lead prosecutor? Is that an option?

autotldr

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This is the best summary I could come up with:

The Georgia court of appeals has put a hold on the trial of Donald Trump and other defendants while it considers whether to disqualify the Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, the lead prosecutor in the case.

Trump had appealed an order by the Fulton county superior court judge Scott McAfee that declined to disqualify Willis after bombshell revelations about a romantic relationship with her chosen special prosecutor.

Trump was charged alongside more than a dozen associates last year with racketeering over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election result in the state, after Georgia voted for Joe Biden to become US president.

The charges stem in part from the “perfect phone call” Trump made to Georgia’s secretary of state, Brian Raffensperger, asking him to “find 11,780 votes” and flip Georgia’s election, as well as an alleged scheme to submit an alternate slate of Republican electors to Congress in order to provide the then vice-president, Mike Pence, a rationale to reject the electoral count and send the election to the House to decide.

Trump’s lawyers subsequently argued that those statements in the “church speech” created “forensic misconduct” – an act by a prosecutor that requires disqualification in Georgia law.

In the appeal, Trump’s attorneys argue that Willis was not honest when testifying about the relationship, creating an appearance of impropriety that requires her removal.

The original article contains 726 words, the summary contains 224 words. Saved 69%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

btaf45

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In the appeal, Trump’s attorneys argue that Willis was not honest when testifying about the relationship,

WTF??? This has NOTHING at all to do with the case against Convicted Felon Treason Trump. Using that to delay the trial against Trump is completely inexcuseable and nonsensical.