Fani Willis, the embattled Fulton County District Attorney, plans to press ahead with her goal of putting Donald Trump on trial before the November election, and intends to ask the judge presiding over the Georgia criminal case to schedule a trial date as soon as this summer, according to three people familiar with her thinking.
It’s a bold move considering the hurdles Willis faces in getting the case back on track after a two-month detour revealed embarrassing details of her personal life, damaging her credibility in the eyes of Judge Scott McAfee and leaving her politically vulnerable ahead of her own reelection bid in November.
Willis narrowly avoided being disqualified over her romantic relationship with lead prosecutor, Nathan Wade, who resigned last Friday following a blistering rebuke from McAfee, publicly questioning both Wade and Willis’s decision-making. On Wednesday McAfee granted requests from Trump and his co-defendants to seek an appeal, meaning the threat of disqualification still hangs over Willis.
Georgia Republicans continue to investigate allegations that Willis benefitted financially from her relationship with Wade. A state Senate committee could use its subpoena power to unearth new information and plans to meet several more times to hear from additional witnesses.
Republican Gov. Brian Kemp last week signed changes into law that give a state commission the power to investigate Willis and authority to remove or sanction state prosecutors.
Willis’s rock-solid political standing has also been shaken. This month, Democrat Christian Wise Smith, a former Fulton County prosecutor and Atlanta solicitor, launched a campaign challenging Willis in the May 21 primary. Republican lawyer Courtney Kramer, an attorney who worked in the Office of the White House Counsel under Trump, has…
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