Tipsheet

Fani Willis Just Proved She Hasn’t Learned Her Lesson

Mia Cathell
Mia Cathell  |  March 25, 2024 6:45 AM

Fani Willis hasn't learned her lesson nor does she feel any semblance of shame.

The disgraced Fulton County district attorney doubled down Saturday after she was caught having—and hiding—an affair with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, the private-practice attorney she had hired to helm the prosecution of former President Donald Trump. Wade was paid $654,000 for his work on the Trump case and spent portions of his taxpayer-funded paychecks on luxury "vacations across the world" the two took together as lovers, including trysts in Aruba, the Bahamas, Belize, and Napa Valley.

Speaking to CNN at an Easter event hosted by Laster Chapel United Methodist Church, where she posed for selfies and handed out baskets to children, Willis said she doesn't feel the need to rehabilitate her reputation with Fulton County residents. In fact, she feels "more loved" by the community and specifically supported by women. "I think that women feel like women are treated differently when they're professionals and they're proud to see someone that is strong and trying to do the right job," Willis said.

The "outpour" of support "especially" includes black women. "We are so proud. You are such a good representative of us," black women purportedly tell her. "I would be lying by saying it's only African American women," Willis said. "I have had Caucasian women, Asian women, Indian women [...] I didn't think I was the face of the feminist movement but somehow I became it."

"I don't feel like my reputation needs to be reclaimed," she told CNN while attending the church's Easter egg hunt over the weekend. "Let's say it for the record: I'm not embarrassed by anything I've done. I guess my greatest crime is I had a relationship with a man, but that's not something I find embarrassing in any way. And I know that I have not done anything that's illegal."

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Willis and Wade also stand accused of lying under oath about the affair's timing, which could amount to perjury charges.

The couple claimed in sworn statements to the court that the affair began after Wade's November 2021 appointment, but ended before Trump's August 2023 indictment, while witness testimony said the sexploits started years earlier—as far back as 2019.

Keep in mind that Willis wants to convict Trump on charges of making false statements and filing false documents.

"I am not a perfect human being," Willis said during the televised CNN interview Saturday. "But what I am is a hard-working human being," she countered, "and a human being that loves the community I serve and who understands this seat does not belong to me; it belongs to the people. And as long as I'm here, I'm going to try to do the job in a way that's honorable."

Willis then quoted her dad, who was once a high-ranking Black Panther, and compared herself to Jesus: "I'm certainly flawed like every human being is flawed. My father has a saying. Only one perfect man walked the face of the Earth and they crucified him."

Asked if she was derailed by attempts to kick her off the Trump case, Willis said her team has continued to work despite the disqualification efforts. On March 15, Willis escaped being booted from the Georgia RICO case following more than two months of evidentiary hearings and court filings accusing her of "financially benefitting" from the "self-serving" arrangement with Wade.

Now, the "train is coming" for Trump and his 14 remaining co-defendants, an indignant Willis declared.

"All while that was going on, we were writing responsive briefs; we were still doing the case in a way that it needed to be done. I don't feel like we've been slowed down at all. I do think there are efforts to slow down this train, but the train is coming," she said.

"We're not going to miss or skip a beat because of all the noise or distraction on one case," Willis added.

Talking to Fox 5 Atlanta about prosecuting Trump, Willis referred to herself in third person. "There's one district attorney in the state and really around the country that has had the courage to do this, and she continues to do it," she spoke highly of herself.

"Apparently Judge McAfee's warning to Willis in his disqualification order about talking about the case in a public forum is simply being ignored," Trump's defense attorney Steve Sadow commented on X's platform. "Does that surprise anyone??" he remarked.

Judge Scott McAfee, who presided over the proceedings on the prosecutorial misconduct claims, sternly warned Willis against making public statements as a prosecutor. Willis blabbed before at a black Atlanta-area church, where she injected race into the Trump case, claiming that criticism against her and Wade's sexual relations was fueled by racism because he is "a black man."

McAfee deemed the Democrat DA's commentary, which intended to "cast racial aspersions," as "legally improper."

"Providing this type of public comment creates dangerous waters for the District Attorney to wade further into," McAfee wrote.

In McAfee's March 15 non-disqualification decision, the Fulton County Superior Court judge noted the "time may have arrived" for a gag order "preventing the State from mentioning the case in any public forum" in order "to prevent prejudicial pretrial publicity."

"At this point, Judge McAfee should gag the DA. The only reason why the defendants won't make that motion is because they're glad to let her talk," Georgia State University law professor Anthony Michael Kreis assessed on X. "Amen," Sadow affirmed.

Ultimately, McAfee found that the Trump co-defendants "failed to meet their burden of proving that the District Attorney acquired an actual conflict of interest in this case through her personal relationship and recurring travels with her lead prosecutor," though the judge said an "odor of mendacity" lingers and the court cannot condone "this tremendous lapse in judgment" on Willis's part.

Rather, McAfee countered, "Georgia law does not permit the finding of an actual conflict for simply making bad choices..."

Still, an "appearance of impropriety" "infects the current structure of the prosecution team," McAfee ruled, stipulating that it can be remedied by either firing Wade or Willis steps aside. Within hours of McAfee's ruling, Wade resigned, allowing Willis to stay.

Wade's resignation letter mentioned moving the Trump case "forward as quickly as possible." If Willis had been the one to go instead of Wade, the prosecution would've had to be reassigned as a whole, then throwing Trump's case into a state of limbo.

Willis is still hoping for the Trump trial to happen ahead of Election Day as the presumptive Republican nominee remains hot on the 2024 presidential campaign trail. "We may ask for that date again," she said Saturday of a tentative August trial date, which she proposed, but it was never granted. Previously, she shot to try the election interference case a day before Super Tuesday.

"I'm also realistic that one of the defendants has multiple cases going on and some of them have trial dates that are ahead of ours. So, I'm always going to be respectful of sister jurisdictions," Willis stated, referring to the pendency of Trump's other cases.

Moving forward, all eyes should be on "the charges, the facts, and the law, and leave all the drama behind," Willis said.

Last week, McAfee issued a certificate of immediate review, granting the Trump team's requests asking to appeal his decision not to disqualify Willis and dismiss the case. The matter will head to the Georgia Court of Appeals, although the appellate court could decline to take up the appeal. McAfee's ruling is "ripe for pretrial appellate review," Sadow said, noting the defense is "optimistic."

In the interim, McAfee said the court "intends to continue addressing" many of the other outstanding pre-trial motions "regardless of whether the petition is granted within 45 days of filing" and "even if any subsequent appeal is expedited by the appellate court."

However, the appeals court could direct McAfee to pause proceedings pending its ruling.