U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a lawyer, says that “whatever misdeeds [Fulton County District Attorney Fani] Willis did or didn’t do” they are not a “free pass for the defendant.”
Ethics officials or the bar might look at Willis’s conduct, Whitehouse suggests, but barring “prejudice to the defendant,” the case Willis built against Donald Trump and his co-defendants in the Georgia RICO shouldn’t be derailed by her “misdeeds,” such as they are, Whitehouse writes, asserting there is no “constitutional right to an impeccable prosecutor.”
There is no constitutional right to an impeccable prosecutor. Whatever misdeeds Ms. Willis did or didn’t do, unless there is prejudice to the defendant, they’re the business of ethics officials, or the bar, or the court — not a free pass for the defendant.
— Sheldon Whitehouse (@SenWhitehouse) February 19, 2024
Willis took the stand last week to defend herself against misconduct insinuations after numerous well-meaning lawyers — including her own — were largely in consensus about the fact that Willis probably shouldn’t take the stand and give credence to the claims by the defense.
Nonetheless, she did, drawing the droll response below from University of Texas law professor Lee Korvasky.
Teaches Civ Pro
— Lee Kovarsky (@lee_kovarsky) February 15, 2024
Walks Out of Class
Opens Computer
See's Fani Willis Got On Stand
Closes Computer
Stares Blankly Into The Sky
The DA’s testimony made for popular television, as Willis got some memorable lines into the record, including “I’m not on trial, these people are on trial for trying to steal an election” and numerous immediate memes like “a man is not a plan.”
But though Willis won some fans for her spirited responses, the notion that she may have benefitted — if slightly — from payments made by her office to prosecutor Nathan Wade — with whom she had a personal relationship — was not dispelled by her appearance.
The situation, and Willis’s inability to staunch the right wing media narrative of rampant corruption in Fulton County, left people like Whitehouse, who believe in the importance Willis’s RICO case against Trump and his alleged co-conspirators in a tough position.
Many believe Willis’s relationship with Wade has no bearing on the case in court, but a perception of corruption in the court of public opinion — a court Trump is highly attuned to — may be damaging enough even if the so-called “misdeeds” are found to be absent.
Whitehouse’s response is mindful of the fact that even if Willis’s conduct doesn’t jeopardize the strength of the case in court, it did open the door to the defendant’s unceasing claims of persecution by Democrats for personal gain.
Whitehouse’s tweet seeks to distance the perhaps not “impeccable” prosecutor from the evidence on which the grand jury indicted Trump and his co-defendants, no matter who gathered and presented that evidence.
Even the fact that Willis’s office first tried to hire prosecutors other than Wade — including a former Georgia governor — aren’t enough, Whitehouse seems to allow, to beat back the corruption narrative that has taken root, even if it’s meritless.
Others, like the commenter below, believe none of the defense’s claims against Willis are relevant and argue that Whitehouse is missing the point.
No, @SenWhitehouse, that's not the point. Whatever Ms. Willis does in her free time, it's irrelevant to her RICO prosecution of Trump and his codefendants. It's also clear that she tried to bring a more experienced SP but he declined due to fear of Trump's base.
— Marc Abrams (@marca56) February 19, 2024
Whitehouse largely agrees, but also doesn’t want to toss out the baby (the lawsuit) with the bathwater (the prosecutor).
