Court: ‘Time may have arrived’ for gag order on Fulton DA Fani Willis

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Fulton County DA Fani Willis’ controversial January speech at Atlanta’s largest African-American church was indirectly mentioned in Friday’s historic ruling that left Willis in place of her prosecution of former President Donald Trump if special prosecutor Nathan Wade is removed.

After early January court filings first accused Willis and Wade of having an improper relationship, Willis spoke about the allegations during a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., birthday celebration. While she never confirmed or denied the accusations or mentioned Wade, her comments did suggest a racial she did mention a racial overtone to the charges.

“I hired one white woman, a good personal friend and great lawyer, a superstar,” Willis said. “I hired one white man brilliant, a great lawyer: and I hired one black man. Another superstar, a great friend, and a lawyer. They are going to be mad when I call them out on this nonsense.”

That speech was a crucial part of Trump and his attorneys’ efforts to disqualify both Willis and Wade from their investigation and subsequent indictment of Trump and his fellow GOP co-defendants.

“The Court cannot find that this speech crossed the line to the point where the Defendants have been denied the opportunity for a fundamentally fair trial, or that it requires the District Attorney’s disqualification,” McAfee wrote Friday. “But it was still legally improper. Providing this type of public comment creates dangerous waters for the District Attorney to wade further into.

“The time may well have arrived for an order preventing the State from mentioning the case in any public forum to prevent prejudicial pretrial,” McAfee wrote.

Trump’s lead Georgia attorney, Steve Sadow, also specifically mentioned Willis’ MLK speech in his response to Friday’s ruling.

“While respecting the court’s decision, we believe that the court did not afford appropriate significance to the prosecutorial misconduct of Willis and Wade, including the financial benefits, testifying untruthfully about when their personal relationship began, as well as Willis’ extrajudicial MLK ‘church speech,’ where she played the race card and falsely accused the defendants and their counsel of racism,” Sadow said. “We will use all legal options available as we continue to fight to end this case, which should never have been brought in the first place.”

Willis is the locally elected district attorney who issued dozens of indictments in August 2023 accusing the nation’s 45th president and his allies of trying to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results. But she has been facing allegations she misused taxpayer funds and crossed ethical boundaries during her romantic relationship with Wade.

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