Legal analyst Glenn Kirschner suggested on Saturday that the allegations of impropriety against Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis have been allowed to get “spun out of control.”
Willis has been leading the investigation in Fulton County, Georgia, into former President Donald Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election in the state. The investigation last year produced a criminal indictment that charged Trump and 18 other co-defendants with counts of racketeering, accusing them of “conspiring” to overturn his loss to Joe Biden, charges which Trump has denied.
The case has, however, become momentarily overshadowed by allegations that Willis engaged in an improper romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, an outside attorney brought in to work on the case, which attorneys for co-defendant Mike Roman claimed constituted a conflict of interest. They also alleged that Willis benefitted financially from bringing Wade into the investigation, and called for both her and Wade to be removed from the case.
Willis has countered the allegations, stating that the personal relationship with Wade did not begin until after he was brought into the case and that “any personal relationship among members of the prosecution team does not amount to a disqualifying conflict of interest or otherwise harm a criminal defendant.” Testimony last week from a key witness against Willis, Terrence Bradley, was generally seen as not providing any damning evidence.
Dennis Byron-Pool/Getty Images
After the end of closing arguments on Friday, Judge Scott McAfee, who is presiding over the case, said he would make a decision on disqualifying Willis within the next two weeks.
Many legal experts, nonetheless, have said that the allegations, even if they have not amounted to much against Willis, have still cast a shadow over the case that could color public perception of it. Speaking on the matter during a Saturday appearance on The Stephanie Miller Show, Kirschner, a former assistant U.S. attorney and frequent Trump critic, described the situation as having “spun out of control.”
“At some point, you have to rein in the scope of the hearing once you’ve answered the question,” he said. “There’s no conflict, there’s no financial benefit, there’s no prejudice to the defendant, done, let’s set a trial date. And it’s sort of spun out of control.”
Newsweek reached out to other legal experts via email for comment on Sunday morning. Any responses received will be added in a later update.
Speaking on the situation with CBS News on Friday, criminal defense lawyer and legal analyst Rikki Klieman characterized Willis’ potential actions as “stunningly reckless.”
“In this kind of case we are talking about money,” she said. “The fact that they have a relationship, although one can certainly say it was stunningly reckless, absolutely reckless, even if it happened after Nathan Wade was working for Fani Willis, but if it happened before, it’s even worse.”
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.