Published March 2, 2024
After all the problems regarding Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her former paramour, whom she appointed to be a special prosecutor in the Trump election case, you knew that they were going to be in trouble.
Now, they have been referred by a watchdog group to the Georgia state bar for misconduct.
The American Accountability Foundation (AAF) is alleging that the pair violated the rules of professional conduct in ethics complaints they filed with the bar. The AAF claims Wade lied under oath about the relationship with Willis and that Willis kept campaign money for personal use, and admitted it during her testimony. The Foundation is asking that the bar take action against both Willis and Wade to permanently ban them from the practice of law.
The Foundation was upset about this part of Willis’ testimony that we reported on, and thought it needed more investigation.
Fani Willis: “When I took out a large amount of money on my first campaign, I kept some of the cash of that.” pic.twitter.com/PcPI22qxDj
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) February 15, 2024
“Cash is fungible. I’ve had cash for years in my house. So for me to tell you the source of where it comes from … when you go to Publix and you buy something and you get fifty dollars and you throw it in there. It’s been my whole life. When I took out a large amount of money during my first campaign, I kept some of the cash of that.”
The AAF says that’s a violation of Georgia campaign finance law, “Nothing in this Code section shall permit or authorize a candidate to utilize campaign funds for the purpose of making gifts, loans , or investments directly to: (A) The candidate…” The complaint document continues:
The statute is unambiguous – and the facts are not in dispute – as Ms. Willis described in her testimony, she placed the money that was intended for her campaign into a “fungible” slush fund with other moneys that she would use for various other purposes, including reimbursing her boyfriend for leisure travel.
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SOURCE: www.redstate.com
RELATED: Trump Lawyer Argues ‘Appearance of Impropriety’ Is Enough to Disqualify Prosecutor
Lawyers argued about whether the prosecutor Fani Willis has an untenable conflict of interest in the Georgia election case; her side called the disqualification effort “desperate.”
Fani T. Willis, left, the Fulton County district attorney, in court on Friday. Defense attorneys tried to set the bar low for disqualification, arguing that even the appearance of a conflict of interest could lead to the dismissal of her entire office from the case. Credit…Pool photo by Alex Slitz
Published March 2, 2024
A judge in the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald J. Trump heard final arguments on Friday on a motion to disqualify the prosecutor who brought the case, Fani T. Willis, on the ground that a romantic relationship she had with a subordinate created a conflict of interest.
With a historic criminal case against a former president on the line, lawyers for Mr. Trump and his co-defendants took turns assailing Ms. Willis. John B. Merchant III, who represents the defendant Michael Roman, said that if the court finds the prosecutors’ romance did not create a conflict of interest, “public confidence in the system will be shot.”
But Adam Abbate, a prosecutor in Ms. Willis’s office, called the defense’s effort to disqualify Ms. Willis “a desperate attempt to remove a prosecutor from a case for absolutely no reason, other than harassment and embarrassment.”
Defense lawyers on Friday repeatedly asserted that the bar for disqualification should be relatively low, arguing that even the appearance of a conflict of interest should lead to Ms. Willis’s removal from the case because her actions had undermined public confidence in it. The question of whether the defense needs to show an actual conflict or just an appearance of one could prove pivotal.
“We can demonstrate an appearance of a conflict of interest, and that is sufficient,” Mr. Merchant told the judge, Scott McAfee of Fulton County Superior Court.
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SOURCE: www.nytimes.com
