George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said Friday that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s actions during her testimony mirror those that former President Donald Trump was sanctioned for.
Willis testified Thursday during an evidentiary hearing regarding allegations that she benefited from appointing her lover, Nathan Wade, as a special prosecutor in the probe of former President Donald Trump’s alleged efforts to contest the results of the 2020 election in Georgia. Turley noted that some of her actions during her testimony were similar to the way Trump has conducted himself when testifying.
“Trump went on the stand and in a couple of proceedings attacked counsel, attacked the motivations of the proceedings and called people liars,” Turley noted. “She did exactly that. She was out-trumping Trump. He was repeatedly sanctioned. In her case, the judge seemed to throw in the towel. It’s not that he’s a bad judge, I thought he was doing a good job overall, but towards the end he seemed to sort of just give up control of those proceedings.”
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“I could not believe how she was able to continue on these tangents, talking about how you negotiate with taxi drivers and matching food with wine on trips with Wade and how men are in relationships,” Turley continued. “It was just mind-blowing. I don’t know many judges that would have allowed that to go on so long.”
Judge Arthur Engoron threatened in November to remove Trump from the courtroom and “draw every negative inference I can” after warning him not to make “speeches” while on the stand. During her testimony, Willis accused attorneys for Michael Roman, a former Trump campaign worker, of being liars while waving documents.
Willis admitted to a relationship with Wade in a Feb. 2 filing in response to the motion seeking her disqualification from the case. Roman’s attorneys said in a filing submitted Feb. 9 that witnesses could contradict denials by Willis that her relationship with Wade began before she hired him as a special prosecutor.
“It was like the judge was a ficus plant just a few feet away,” Turley said. “She was unresponsive to stay in the lines, to be responsive to questions. She was yelling that the media and the opposing lawyers are liars, that people are colluding. It was really something to watch.”
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