Fani Willis Hammered Team Trump Today, and Will Likely Remain On the RICO Case

What a day in court in Fulton County Georgia. And oh my how the worm turned – into that giant snake from Harry Potter swallowing up Donald Trump and his defense team. I’m sure you know by now DA Fani Willis herself showed up to testify and the after action punditry included my favorite line which came from pundit Lisa Rubin – who said Willis gave the defense a proctological exam. Yikes. I watched all day (so much I hated having to hit the head for fear of missing something) and at the first break in the action it was doom and gloom from the talking heads on TV. That would change but let me set this down in order.

I couldn’t understand why the “poor Fani Willis, she’s toast” talk. The “bombshell witness” that Team Trump called (via video conference) seemed shall we say less than credible. She started out not quite defiant but with some attitude, but by the end even before the prosecution got to question her she seemed to be regretting getting involved. Turns out she was going to be fired but was allowed to resign. Here’s why. Robin Yearty, the “star witness” that “blew up” Willis (and Wade’s) credibility had only her word to offer. And as the questioning by those who called her went on she grew sullen. Even the lead defense lawyer Ashleigh Merchant had to be wondering if she and her colleagues had overreached.

Apparently Yeartie had told them she and Willis had been “best friends” but she started correcting the defense to say they were “good friends.” Then she had to admit it was only Willis telling her as a “good friend” and confidant the “romantic” relationship between Willis and Wade started in early 2019, long before they’d sworn to.  That she hadn’t actually seen anything, other that witnessing them together “acting romantic.” Hugs. Kisses? I suppose if they were mouth kissing and getting into it then uh oh but that wasn’t the testimony. A kiss on the cheek? As a I’ve had my share of women who’ve given me a hug and a kiss and there was no chance it was going to lead to something else. We’ll talk more about that later.

Things then move to questions about how/why this gal left the DA’s office. She was allowed to resign rather than be fired. Under cross examination she tried to dissemble and say she hadn’t been counseled on poor performance multiple times but it was pretty clear to her before long that the prosecutor questioning her could “produce receipts” and between that and her demeanor my judgement was disgruntled former employee getting even. And what better way to do so than call up Wade’s divorce attorneys and offer to help them? Knowing damn well they were in cahoots with Trump’s criminal lawyers. If THIS was the “proof” the defense (when I say defense I’m referring to Trump) had I thought they’d better have a lot more.

However, as I said during the lunch break the pundits seemed to take this all as gospel and talk about how not only was Willis (and Wade) finished but even the case itself might be toast! When things resumed Nathan Wade took the stand and the defense went after him and hard. I thought he handled himself well and seemed more credible on the stand than Yeartie and significantly so. The part about Willis reimbursing him in cash I admit sounded bad from the way the defense framed it (as pundits noted during the next, shorter break) but later it became quite credible.  The thing was, despite argumentative and insinuating questions from the defense team he was calm and specific in rebutting their allegations. Again, he seemed the more credible witness, at least to me.

And then the REAL hearing began. As MSNBC’s Katie Phang pointed out the defense had a high bar to meet and under Georgia law they hadn’t done so. But still it didn’t look good. Fireworks, as it turned out small ones came when the defense wanted to call Willis. The lead prosecutor from her office objected stating pretty much what Phang had said, that the defense hadn’t met its burden of evidence so there was no need to call Willis at all. Naturally the defense objected and while their lead did most of the talking it was Steve Sadow that really got kind of ugly in demanding Willis appear. I know I shouldn’t “go there” but he’d already given indications (for me at least) he a good ole boy who was pissed he hadn’t done enough to dirty up Wade, and the racist in him was itching for another shot to take down a you-know-what.

For all that it seemed (and pundits later said so) the judge seemed ready to rule that Willis shouldn’t be forced to testify. He’d forced Wade to do so I must note, but again it looked at that point like he’d already decided on witness credibility, at least regarding when the romantic relationship began. And since he seemed inclined to leave it at that it meant he felt like the question of whether Willis had gained financially by hiring Wade that that wasn’t the case. He questioned the defense on what more they might get from Willis that wasn’t already part of the record but the defense either had to fold or go for broke and chose the latter.

I should note the prosecution believed the judge wouldn’t call her to the stand. So the plan was for her to just ride things out in her office. However, Willis we’d find out had been watching and had had enough of the sleazy innuendo and lies. And all of a sudden we saw Willis standing there, ready to walk to the witness stand! The prosecutor was surprised as hell, and wanted to stop her but Willis made it clear who was in charge and she flat out said where all could hear it she WANTED to take the stand. As noted by Politico:

Her choice to testify was even more remarkable because the judge in the case, Scott McAfee, may not have required it at all. Willis had initially objected to efforts to compel her testimony and had urged McAfee to scuttle a subpoena. But as one of her deputies was objecting Thursday to her being forced to testify, Willis entered the courtroom and said she wanted to take the stand after all.

And that’s what she did. I can’t say I blame her. Prosecutors often take a lot of crap from defendant’s on courthouse steps and in other places. Normally they just have to take it, and just put on their case. Seldom do they get the chance to do what Willis decided to do and face down her attackers – in a setting where it would be a fair fight. I remember as she settled in the witness chair the defense might well regret calling her, and maybe even had some thoughts they might have overplayed their hand.

Willis started punching back and hard from the get-go. There was a short break so some of the exhibits could be copied so she’d have her own set. But she started out directly saying LIES had been told about her, and when she held up three sets of defense filings called them exactly that I though GAME ON. Willis came out guns blazing, saying Yeartie and the defense via it’s three motions were lying about her. Merchant tried to fight counter and Willis both nailed her and reframed the whole proceeding and the perception the defense had created and what their game was:

“You’re confused,” Willis told Ashleigh Merchant, an attorney for one of Trump’s co-defendants, repeatedly accusing her of “lying” in court documents. “You think I’m on trial. These people are on trial for trying to steal an election in 2020. I’m not on trial, no matter how hard you try to put me on trial.”

The defense would continue to try and shore up their “case” but Willis had their number every step of the way. And she even killed two birds with one stone on the reimbursing Wade with cash. Remember how earlier I said it sounded bad? It turns out Willis was taught by her father she should always have enough cash in her home to cover six months of expenses. And that he’d be disappointed to learn that while kept cash at home it was never more than $15-20K and usually more in the several thousand to ten thousand or so at times. When challenged about “where it came from” with demand for bank receipts or some other kind of accounting she handled that smoothly too. I thought about some people I’ve known (I’ll bet you do too) who keep thousands on hand. Not stuffed in the mattress per se but they just don’t entirely trust banks.

But while Willis credibly explained all that she made another point. The picture of her (and Wade) the defense has painted is of a far larger “payoff” than actually changed hands. It turns out from Willis (and to a degree Wade’s) testimony that the two largest reimbursements were for $2.5k for one trip/cruise and $2k for another. the rest were far smaller amounts. No total was given but it all sounds like well under ten grand.

Given the amount Wade made from his contract that’s not much at all. Like many modern couples when it came to dinners, lunches and day trips sometimes one would pay and sometimes the other and it all evens out. Back when I had a social life and long-term relationships I found the same thing to be the case. And one final note on the keep lots of cash in the house thing, Willis’ 80 year old dad is expected to testify tomorrow.  If the visual of a bunch of white Georgia attorneys attacking two successful black ones was a bad look (it was) the defense is going to look even worse going after an eighty year old black man who raised such a strong and accomplished daughter!

Trust me when I tell you that for all I’ve written it’s only a partial accounting. Hillary Clinton spend over ten hours being grilled by GOPers and they didn’t lay a glove on her. Willis might have only spent a few hours being grilled but not only did her attackers not lay a glove on her, she bloodied THEIR noses over and over. The hearing will resume tomorrow. The defense says it has other witnesses they want to call. I’m pretty sure their big one was Yeartie and their wad has been shot. The prosecution has three or perhaps four they intend to call. So we may at least be done with the hearing part tomorrow. But maybe not. It’s doubtful we’ll get a ruling either way until next week. However, unless the defense can pull a magic rabbit out of its butt they are going to get hosed by judge McAfee.

My mind is still reeling tonight. But here are the main thoughts that keep going through my head:

• This is all happening because Wade’s wife’s divorce lawyers have been colluding with Trump’s criminal lawyers. It makes me once again grateful that as much as it hurt to have my marriage fail at least we had a civilized divorce and remained on good terms after. But divorces can get messy.
• Those divorce lawyers probably thought they were looking at a payday from renegotiating the settlement figuring Wade had made far more from his work on the case than turns out to be the case. He worked on it a LOT, but his billable hours were capped. That drop-off in income because he focused almost exclusively on the RICO case and stopped generating income from what had been a solid law practice wasn’t from him hiding assets. Right about now I’ll bet those divorce lawyers are PISSED.
• Fani Willis and the Georgia prosecution are in way better shape tonight than they were twelve hours ago. She might have earned a “easy there” or two from the judge but well before her time on the stand was done she’d put the defense back to where it should be – on the DEFENSE.
• Trump might have for a while thought his very bad day (being told he IS going to be tried in criminal court next month) had gotten better while he was losing up in NCY. By a little after five pm eastern time those hopes were dashed. Stomped on in fact. The fact it was a woman, and worse a black woman who tap-danced his dream of wiping out his Georgia prosecution into dust will set him off even more! It’s been a very bad day for Trump.

There are things I really needed to be doing today that didn’t get done because I was glued to the TV. But damn. I’ll deal with that. Getting stacked up was well worth it.