Regarding charges against Fani Willis

She still shouldn't have put her love interest on the case - poor judgment at best.  But former prosecutor and legal analyst Norm Eisen assesses the legal merits of the charges against her by Trump's RICO co-defendant Michael Roman.

I believe the scuttlebutt has been that Nathan Wade has been profiting from being hired to the case.  Eisen's argument is that would not come under Georgia conflict of interest laws.  Also, I've read that he was hired at the pay any other attorney would have been hired.  No doubt, Roman's attorneys will try to make hay of it anyway.

Hearing is set for February 15 before Judge McAfee.

Of course, that's what Trump's legal/political life is famous for.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 01/23/2024:

Agree.  He's also going through a messy divorce which is no doubt taking his own focus.

UPDATE 01/23/2024:

I really can’t defend Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. I want to, because her prosecution of the Donald Trump cronies involved in the conspiracy to overturn the election in Georgia is critical. I want to, because the Republican push to turn her personal missteps into a reason to dismiss her case is both wrong and infuriating. I want to, because, like Issa Rae, “I’m rooting for everybody Black.” But I can’t, or won’t, defend her from the salacious allegations leveled against her, because, if true, they represent a textbook case of public corruption—even if they shouldn’t affect the case against Trump.

[...]

Make no mistake: This is a hit job on a prominent Black woman, carried out by a longtime Republican operative who does this crap for a living.

[...]

Wade was, of course, paid for his work on the case, and Roman alleges that Wade spent some of the money on Willis, in the form of vacations and dinners and whatever else couples who don’t have children together do with their massive amounts of free time.

  Elie Mystal @ The Nation

And the problem is, if you're getting government money, you're not supposed to be spending it on the person who hired you into the government job you're getting paid for.

[T]he relationship looks a lot like a kickback scheme. There’s no law against hiring your lover (though there probably should be, because people seriously need to stop trying to serve the public and their genitals at the same time), but there absolutely are laws against public graft. [...] It might be “petty” corruption or “harmless” corruption or “the kind of corruption white men have gotten away with for hundreds of years,” but it’s still “corruption.”

[...]

All the evidence in this situation points to a messy divorce—and some galactically selfish and careless bad judgment—not a pattern of malicious prosecution.

The media has been getting a lot of play out of the fact that Wade was hired as a “special prosecutor.” But people are using that title without context, and ascribing outsize importance to his role. At the federal level, a special prosecutor like Jack Smith has independent authority and is brought on to make all the decisions and run the case. It’s not like that at the local level, where a special prosecutor can best be thought of as extra help.

[...]

However, his role as a well-paid functionary should help the case survive. Willis, in fact, hired two other special prosecutors, in addition to Wade, that nobody seems to have a problem with.

[...]

If [Willis] and Wade were kicked off the case or eloped to Fiji or quit to star in the next season of Love Island, the state of Georgia would still have a case. Remember, this is a case where multiple people—including Sidney Powell, Ken Chesboro, and Jenna Ellis—have already pleaded guilty. [...] If every criminal trial stopped because a prosecutor was throwing money to some a bit on the side, we’d have to open the jails and free a whole bunch of people.

All that said, the time for Wade to get his ass gone from this case is now.

[...]

The suggestion that Willis should leave is a bit more complicated. The court could kick her off the case, but my political calculus is that it’s better for the case for Willis to stay. [...] The appearance of impropriety and evidence of unethical behavior is likely more of an issue for the voters of Georgia [- Willis is up for reelection this year - ] than it is for Judge Scott McAfee, who is presiding over the trial.

[...]

Black people know that is the standard—perfection—that we are held to, especially if we dare to challenge white power and authority. We can’t make mistakes.

[...]

Fani Willis knows all that, and yet, in the biggest case of her life, with the entire world watching, she apparently decided to hire her lover for a $650,000 government job? If true, that’s not a “mistake.” It’s not merely “bad judgment.” It’s hubris. It’s reckless.

[...]

All that’s left now is the very long fall. Let us hope she doesn’t drag the case with her on the way down.

UPDATE 02/03/2024:   As always - if you wait until you know the facts...

So my initial sentence of this post was typed in ignorance of the facts...