MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” called out Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis for her “lack of judgment” in the prosecution of former president Donald Trump, calling Friday’s ruling a “fatal blow” and suggesting she should recuse herself from the case.
The judge overseeing the Georgia election interference case against Trump ruled that Willis may continue – but only if Nathan Wade, the lead prosecutor she hired and with whom she engaged in a romantic relationship – is to step down.
“Here we have the most important case brought in the history of the state of Georgia,” co-host Joe Scarborough said. “Yet, the lack of judgment shown here is absolutely stunning.”
Attorney and regular MSNBC contributor Andrew Weissmann noted that the ruling does not point to “Prejudice to the defendants. The judge goes out of his way to say this has nothing to do with it.”
“This lack of judgment, these terrible mistakes made by the D.A. does not impact the defendants,” Scarborough clarified.
Weissmann added that if she were engaged in a relationship with a witness in the case or the defense counsel, which would “actually deal with the evidence,” that would be another story.
“The idea that she’s prolonging this case – and the judge goes out of his way to say the state has been trying to get to trial. He goes out of his way to say the defendants are not prejudiced one iota about this,” Weissmann said.
“I think this is such a huge body blow, almost a fatal blow to Fani Willis,” Weissmann continued. “I think the way forward is she has to voluntarily recuse herself.”
Weissmann questioned whether Willis “has it in her,” to remove herself from the case and “appoint a chief assistant to oversee,” it.
However, she “clearly has no credibility with this judge.”
“If your first interest is this case, I think she needs to remove herself voluntarily and say someone else is going to oversee this case in Georgia. So that whatever happens to her in terms of ethics, it doesn’t taint this case,” Weissmann concluded.
