Fani Willis is the District Attorney of Fulton County Georgia, prosecuting the case against Donald Trump in the election subversion case. She had been doing such a good job in prosecuting the case – she caught the ire of Trump himself. As the old saying goes, if you can’t beat them – oust them – and that is just what Trump and his cohorts are trying to do.
In watching the hearing over the last two days, I was appalled as both an attorney and as a woman as to how Fani Willis was not only vilified by the media, but met with contempt. Yet, that is what happens when the person being vilified is a successful woman, a woman holding a position of power – and worse, if that woman is black.
When Fani abruptly appeared in that courtroom after everyone thought she would not testify, she not only surprised her own team of state prosecutors, but everyone, including the judge. Then she took to the witness box, her testimony was raw and emotional – it had the air of a woman scorned – not by her lover, but by a legal system weaponized against her. A system off course, not on a quest for the truth, but to vilify her. The travesty is, Trump’s team savagely attacked her – doing their best to make her look just like another corrupt politician – the irony of which, they are deflecting from the real problem – the person they are representing themselves. In their question to “protect” the man with a 91 count indictment against him, they try to project onto Fani what Trump has been doing for years – cheating the system, taking favors for himself, and subverting the truth for personal gain whenever he can. In fact, we now see Supreme Court justices doing the same, reflecting that same ethos – taking lavish vacations from big money donors – living a lavish lifestyle of the rich and famous – surely not something the originalists had in mind, as the path to getting and staying on the Supreme Court bench. But that is far from what Willis was doing – yet the Trump lawyers were there to cast aspersions on her, and to get sound bites for the media and the evening news: to make her look dirty and corrupt, the very thing she was there fighting to prevent. As usual, the Trump team was once again out for blood. It was not only palpable, but readily discernable, attorneys acting with the ferocity of dogs starved for days, and then seeing Willis as a pound of raw meat ready to be devoured.
Attacked by the Pack
DA Willis was questioned not only relentlessly, but repeatedly with many of the same questions in different ways with different intonations by attorneys representing Trump, and his posse of “alleged” co-conspirators. Questions ranging from how she could have cash money on her – inferring that because she is black and female – or she should be destitute, or close thereto. One question was more than shameful, asking her, how she could could have this money – as if she was doing something illegal to have ready access to a few thousand dollars. The Trump team kept making inferences akin to those regular made to people of color: posing questions to her repeatedly, as if the money was stolen, or she was involved in something illegal. When pressed to learn where Fani got the money, it seemed they got an answer they never expected: “through my own sweat and tears.”
The Trump lawyer’s conduct was revolting, as a white man would never be questioned in such a blatantly and disrespectful way; that is, if he said he had a safe in his house, and kept cash on him – whether it was to pay outright for purchases, tip the waiter, or reimburse a friend. In fact, many of my older friends and associates still carry cash. They don’t trust the digital apps to make exchanges, such as to pay back a friend, and in many cases, these older adults don’t even know how to use them.
I also know many women who are professional, and who don’t want to be beholding to a man – always carry cash on them, just in case something goes afoul on a date, or they want to go to a movie, tip a waiter, or pay most if not all of a two-person dinner. Yet, these lawyers were acting like it was out of character for a woman, and especially a black woman to have money, let alone carry along cash; it meant nothing to her questioners that she did it to get better purchasing power, as well as for her own personal security, and not to be beholding to her friends – or anyone else.
What the media never told anyone, is that both Willis and the man she hired, Nathan Wade as special prosecutor in the Trump election subversion case, met when they both were municipal judges. They were not destitute as portrayed by the Trump lawyers and the media, but they also had legal practices of their own. Even so, Willis told of tough times earlier in her career – after she had run for an elected State Supreme Court Judgeship, one that she didn’t win, but rung up a personal tab of $50,000. But she reiterated for the inquisitors, that at $200,000 a year salary as DA, she is now doing quite well.
She also emphasized she has always been an independent woman – something that one could see from a mile away. She reiterated because of her independence, she would not let herself be beholding to any man. She said “a man is not a plan, he is a companion” – and that whenever they went places, she always paid her fair share, not receiving gifts was how she rolled, in fact, she appeared to do more for him and others, than was even reciprocated to her.
As for the romantic relationship she ended up having to tell the court, that her friend Wade was not her first choice to hire for the contract job as special prosecutor. In fact, even the former governor, a high-profile lawyer, was called to testify about her “first” offering him the job. But he refused it. He knew how demanding the job would be, including the death threats he would likely get (as does Willis), and he said he couldn’t live with having security guards once again, as he had done reluctantly once before.
Fani testified that no matter who she asked, no one wanted the job. No doubt, because Trump supporters would renew their threats to harm her, as they had done in the past. Moving from place to place since the election fraud case took center stage, stating she can’t even go back and live in her own home, the one she still has a mortgage, but cant go back to live there, because of the ongoing threats on her life. All of which causes her to not only to pay for a mortgage for a house she can’t live in, but to pay for a condo to live in as well.
What must be noted, is that Wade and at least one lawyer in his firm, were doing contract work for DA Willis – they were “independent contractors” and never employees; meaning rules discouraging workplace romance with employees would not apply to any relationship that developed between them. And because she never took gifts but always paid her own way, there could be no conflict with any rules regarding profiteering – which was the crux of this sham inquisition – on whether to disqualify her or not.
As for the amount of money being paid, the invoices for Wade’s services were referenced and that some of the contracts were for $60 an hour and some for $150 an hour. Wade would work numerous hours and end up splitting this contract money in two or three ways, depending on whether there were two or three lawyers at the time in his firm. In fact, Mr. Wade’s contract even capped him from from charging for all the hours he worked, but like any professional arrangement, lawyer’s can’t just drop the case and walk out – they have an ethical duty to see their case through.
The bottom line – there was a witch hunt, but not the one that Trump speaks about all the time, this one is one choreographed and implemented by Trump and his attorneys, to deflect from all the dastardly deeds they had done: trying to put the burden on Fani to prove she is innocent and did nothing wrong – instead of Trump looking in the mirror and take responsibility for all the cheating, lying and manipulating he had done. But as one judge said in his findings, Trump never displays any contrition, he just keeps claiming he is the victim – even though the facts and the law show us clearly, his beliefs are an illusion, self-serving, and farthest from the truth.
Note: The evidence on tape recording by the GA Secretary of State for the 2020 election: When Trump called him on the phone, and told him in no uncertain terms: “find” the extra votes Trump needed to win the election.