The district attorney in Donald Trump’s election fraud case in Georgia could be facing perjury charges this week.
Judge Scott McAfee is expected to rule by the end of this week on whether Fani Willis should be removed from the Trump trial, or even face perjury charges, as a result of her relationship with Nathan Wade, the chief prosecutor in the Trump case. Trump and his co-accused claim that Willis only appointed Wade to the case because they were in a relationship.
Trump pleaded not guilty to all 13 charges against him and has said the case is politically motivated because he is the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination.
Willis, the district attorney for Fulton County, Georgia, gave evidence last month in a two-day hearing following allegations that she was in a relationship with Wade. The timeline of their relationship has emerged as a key point of contention. Trump’s lawyers examined phone records alleging the pair were in a relationship before the Georgia election fraud case began.
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Willis and Wade contest that and have said under oath that their relationship began after the indictment of Trump and 18 other defendants for allegedly trying to overthrow the result of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
Trump’s team presented evidence from a technical expert that allegedly shows that Wade made late night trips to Willis’ home long before the Trump case began.
However, several legal experts told Newsweek that they don’t believe she will face perjury charges, even if the judge believes their relationship began before the indictments.
Newsweek sought email comment from Fani Willis’ office and from Donald Trump’s attorney on Thursday.
New York-based attorney Colleen Kerwick told Newsweek that Georgia’s burden of proof for perjury would be difficult to overcome.
“One can be convicted of perjury in Georgia for knowingly making a materially false statement under oath. However, in order to convict for perjury, there must be more than one witness. I doubt there was more than one witness to her alleged affair at that time,” she said.
Kerwick also said that while McAfee’s hearings may bring Willis’ credibility into question, it might not have established a completely different set of facts to those outlined by Willis in her testimony.
“I believe that a distinction should be drawn between evidence which impeaches a witness, in the sense that it affects the witness’s credibility, and evidence which has probative force, in that it shows a state of facts which differs from that to which the witness testified,” she said.
Greg Germain, a law professor at Syracuse University in New York, agreed that Willis is unlikely to face perjury charges.
“I guess anyone who testifies about anything ‘could’ face perjury charges, but perjury charges are quite rare. A prosecutor has to show that the person knowingly and intentionally lied, not that they were mistaken about timing or something like that,” Germain told Newsweek.
“Even with strong evidence, lying about a collateral personal matter is not usually prosecuted, although it has happened in high-profile cases like Bill Clinton.”
Germain said perjury charges would have to be heard by a different judge.
“Perjury would have to be brought and decided in another court. The issue for Judge McAfee is whether to remove Fani Willis from the case, because of an appearance of impropriety,” he said.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.