By Jason Cohen, Daily Caller News Foundation | December 19, 2024
MSNBC legal analyst Barbara McQuade explained Thursday what could happen to President-elect Donald Trump’s case after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was disqualified.
The Georgia Court of Appeals disqualified Willis Thursday, citing “an appearance of impropriety,” but declined to dismiss the indictment against Trump entirely. McQuade, on “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” noted she anticipates it is likely that Trump’s case will ultimately be dismissed, similar to the fate of Willis’ case against Georgia Lt. Governor Burt Jones, from which she was also disqualified.
“I imagine that Willis will appeal it to the Georgia Supreme Court before any other action is taken, but make no mistake, this is a terrible blow to the prosecution … if this stands, the court here said she’s disqualified, but the indictment remains intact,” McQuade said. “What we will see is what we saw in the case of one of the defendants, Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones who you may recall, Fani Willis had held a fundraiser against his opponent and was disqualified from that case.”
“That sent the whole case out of her office because if a prosecutor is disqualified, her whole office is disqualified. That means it goes to a central Georgia coordinating counsel where it’s decided whether the case will go further, and in that case, the director of that organization said the case against Burt Jones should go no further,” she continued. “And I would expect we may see the same result with this RICO [Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations] prosecution.”
Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney in 2022 disqualified Willis from prosecuting Jones, who was then a state senator running for lieutenant governor, after the district attorney hosted a fundraiser for his Democratic opponent, NBC News reported. McBurney ruled that Willis’ participation in the fundraiser was “harmful” to the investigation into Jones, who allegedly was involved in an attempt to flip the state’s 2020 election results through an alternate slate of electors.
Peter Skandalakis, the executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, announced in September that Jones would no longer face criminal charges for the alleged crime, according to The New York Times.
Former President George W. Bush Justice Department official John Yoo said Thursday that it is unlikely a different Georgia district attorney will take over the case against Trump following Willis’ disqualification.
“It’s hard for me to see another Georgia district attorney wanting to take up this flawed case and try to prosecute Trump on these theories that his reelection campaign was some kind of criminal organized crime enterprise,” he said.
Jason Cohen is a reporter at the Daily Caller News Foundation
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