Megyn Kelly on Friday accused Georgia Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, who is overseeing the state’s Trump election interference trial, of not disqualifying Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis from the case because doing so might have harmed his reelection chances..
“He made sure that he can still run and potentially win reelection in Fulton County, which went 73 percent for Joe Biden,” Kelly said during her podcast series “The Megyn Show.” “He found a way to thread the needle to protect himself while throwing them under the bus as much as he felt comfortable.”
At issue was the undisclosed romantic relationship Willis had with Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade. The relationship came to light in January after one of Trump’s co-defendants learned about it; how that happened is still unclear, but it appears to be somehow related to Wade’s ongoing divorce proceedings, which began in 2021.
Trump’s legal team alleged that Willis and Wade began their relationship before he was hired as Special Prosecutor in 2021, and that it was a form of financial self-dealing. They moved to have her disqualified and the case thrown out on grounds that the relationship was a conflict of interest.
Willis and Wade never publicly disclosed the relationship and didn’t admit to it for several days after it was revealed. But they testified in February that the relationship began in 2022, well after Wade filed for divorce, and ended before Trump was indicted in Aug. 2023.
On Friday, in a 23-page decision, McAfee criticized Willis for “unprofessional” behavior and “tremendous lapse in judgment,” adding that there was now “a significant appearance of impropriety.” But he also ruled that the matter didn’t rise to the level of conflict of interest, and presented Willis with two options: Either she and entire legal team drop out of the case or Wade step down. Wade resigned shortly after.
Kelly argued that this was just a strategic way to make sure he doesn’t get the chop in the election later this year.
“I see this as a judge who found a way to tell us he gets it, he condemns her and Nathan Wade, he doesn’t trust them, he thinks they’re liars and unethical, but he saved his own hide,” Kelly said.
However, prior to his decision, McAfee said his decision won’t be “based on politics whatsoever in spite of speculations.
“The message I always want to convey is that no ruling of mine is ever going to be based on politics,” he said on Thursday. “I’m going to be following the law as best I understand it.”
