Fabi Willis fights back, in church. I say good for her!
Willis read a letter she penned to God in a moment of prayer earlier this week.
Describing herself as an “imperfect” and “flawed” person, Willis recounted the challenges she has faced during her time as district attorney. pic.twitter.com/ybBxQTaN1Z
— Anna Bower (@AnnaBower) January 14, 2024
🌼
Willis described being the target of a “swatting” attack on Christmas night, when someone reported that a woman had been shot dead at her home.
It led her to think that her oldest child had been shot, she said.
“I thank you, Lord, that it all turned out to be a cruel hoax.” pic.twitter.com/3LaxmkdXks
— Anna Bower (@AnnaBower) January 14, 2024
🌼
Willis said Wade has “impeccable” credentials.
He was previously hired by a Republican official in another county for a job that paid twice the rate, she said.
“Why is the White male Republican’s judgement good enough, but the Black female Democrat’s not?” she asked. pic.twitter.com/JK9UFuDC3W
— Anna Bower (@AnnaBower) January 14, 2024
Your thoughts?
Open thread.
piratedan
It does kind of give me pause that they didn’t accuse her of a lesbian relationship or an inter-racial one. It seemed like a fishing expedition at the time and I’ve yet to see anything else of substance since (and you KNOW that they’ve been looking for it), Maybe its my informational bubble but I think this is the same olf shit, say something that could be plausible and let the speculation and media campaign destroy the “good guys” and well after the fact we find that it was 99.6% bullshit.
Nukular Biskits
Good for her!!!!!
Viva BrisVegas
Remember Shirley Sherrod.
It’s always bullshit from these people. Never believe a word they say, unless they bring receipts. Then check the receipts for forgeries.
mrmoshpotato
@piratedan: I’m surprised they didn’t pull a Russian Reid out of their ass like they did with Biden.
Good on her for slapping their shitasses.
MattF
Glad to see Willis call out the cruelty and amorality of Greene.
Villago Delenda Est
The GQp is the party of monsters. No ifs, ands, or buts. MAGAts are terrorists.
Burnspbesq
The optics suck, but in substance it’s a nothingburger. The voters of Fulton County can decide whether or not they’ve lost confidence in her ability to lead the DA’s office. It’s utterly irrelevant to the case against Trump and his confederates.
Villago Delenda Est
@Burnspbesq: The catch is the optics do have a major impact. Too many Americans are not like you or me, looking for substance.
zhena gogolia
@Villago Delenda Est: So what exactly happened?
John Revolta
I’ve been surprised and pleased by how little attention this desperation maneuver has gotten (so far) in the press. Nice handling of it here by Willis, and bonus points for the shot at MTG!
Burnspbesq
Every time I think Abbott couldn’t be more of a monster, he proves me wrong. Dead children’s bodies floating in the Rio Grande …
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/three-migrants-drown-us-border-amid-dispute-between-texas-white-house-2024-01-14/
Ken
It will be interesting to see if the “I confess to God that I’m a flawed person” technique works like it does with Republicans — i.e. all is forgiven, and how dare you keep bringing up that ancient history.
Another Scott
@Viva BrisVegas: +1
If there was anything hinky about the hiring it should have been found much earlier.
This is clearly yet another attempt to make TIFG’s prosecution appear to be some sort of personal animus rather than him finally, finally, being held to account.
Don’t be distracted.
Cheers,
Scott.
bbleh
Well I find it OUTRAGEOUS that a Black Democrat woman should bring up politics in church!! How could she, a well-informed and high-ranking government official, not understand that ONLY White Republicans, and in the Right Sort of church White Republican men, are allowed to do that?! Why, it’s a scandal!!11!!
Nukular Biskits
I’m generally not a confrontationalist (is that a word?) but I agree there are times you have to swing back (figuratively, in this case, of course) at bullies and publicly and firmly call out the a-holes.
Geminid
@Burnspbesq: I think you are right about the tangible effect these allegations- if they pan out- will have on the criminal cases that Willis’s office has brought. It’s more a a problem of optics, a political problem, than a legal one.
Last year Georgia set up a new entity for policing the state’s prosecutors, though. Actually two: a five member investigation panel and a three member trial panel. This could end up being their first case.
bbleh
@Geminid: I just hope to H-E-double-toothpick that this isn’t a setup for precisely those people.
Omnes Omnibus
Trump dragged Nigel Fucking Farage to Iowa.
zhena gogolia
OT, great LP video, “Mar-a-Lago Assisted Living“
eclare
The optics of this are awful. I also found some articles about Nathan’s law background which raise questions. He’s never tried a felony? He was previously held in contempt? He mainly worked in civil cases, like divorce?
Nukular Biskits
@bbleh:
As someone commented a night or so ago (?), I think this was a case of throw everything at the wall and see what sticks.
But, I wouldn’t be surprised that your scenario wasn’t in their heads when they did.
Geminid
@Omnes Omnibus: Farage should have some good stories to tell when he gets back to the UK. And thaws out.
eclare
@Omnes Omnibus:
JFC
persistentillusion
@Omnes Omnibus: The frozen Hellmouth opens.
beckya57
I sure hope the allegations aren’t true. Would say terrible things about Willis’ judgment if they are. You can’t go after someone like Trump if you have any skeletons in your closet.
Jackie
Why does this BS remind me of the “she slept her way to the top,” innuendos Kamala Harris went through when she was running for AG? 🤔
Chief Oshkosh
@Omnes Omnibus: You know how in Fargo Steve Buscemi’s character buries the money in a snowbank on the side of a highway, and then later bodies get fed into woodchipper?
That’s what should happen to Nigel.
mrmoshpotato
@Geminid: Nigel Farage should thaw out by throwing himself into the Sun.
lollipopguild
@Omnes Omnibus: I would think that the vast majority of people in Iowa would have no idea who Farage is.
WaterGirl
@lollipopguild: “Strategery” on Trump’s part.
Hmm, let’s see, Iowa. I’ll go with the british politician they have probably never heard of, and get a mob boss to publicly endorse me.
That ought to do it!
SFAW
@Omnes Omnibus:
Big deal. He is also using Sammy The Bull as a character witness. I shit you not.
Omnes Omnibus
@Chief Oshkosh: I can live with that.
MomSense
Trump paid hush money to a porn star so she would keep quiet before the 2016 election and I’m supposed to take seriously his accusations about DA Willis?
Nope.
Scout211
Everyone has skeletons in their closets. I don’t think it matters one way or the other if she has a personal relationship with a prosecutor she hired. If there wasn’t something in her background the Trump team could exploit and make look far more unethical than it really is, then they would just make shit up. That’s what Trump does day in and day out.
And really, who in the Trump inner circle doesn’t have skeletons in their closets, including the orange shit person himself?
Martin
@Burnspbesq: He made it pretty clear that if not for the murder charge he’d make that a regular thing.
Seems like a risky strategy going into an election year. I don’t think most Republican voters *really* want that, even in Texas.
Elizabelle
@Omnes Omnibus: Hope Iowa has people bearing milkshakes to greet Mr. Farage.
What a wanker.
WaterGirl
@Jackie: Yep, I nearly mentioned that because I have been thinking the same thing.
Martin
@Jackie: It’s an odd charge given that he is her subordinate. Just shows how automatic the assertion against women is.
UncleEbeneezer
The SistersInLaw podcast also noted that while Wade has never been a prosecutor, he has a ton of experience in the county and likely knows many of the judges and how they all operate (a very important piece of info for the Prosecutor to have.)
prostratedragon
Eeeeee doggies! Not having to play at Lambeau today sure has made the Packers exuberant
bbleh
@Scout211: then they would just make shit up.
And their surrogates would push it every time they opened their mouths, and their troll farms would duly tsk-tsk about it on every possible social medium, and the MSM would repeat it because it’s “out there,” and and and.
Even IF this is a setup, though, I don’t see it having much effect. Worse comes to worst — and I doubt it will — she recuses and the case goes on. And at the end of the day, how many minds would it change?
Betty Cracker
If the allegations are true (huge IF), a smart person did a really stupid goddamn thing that may discredit her personally and — worse — undermine an important case against Trump. From what I read, a worrisome aspect of this is that the lawyer who claims she’s seen the evidence (currently under seal) is a respected defense attorney, not a Trump nut. I’m in wait-and-see mode.
WaterGirl
@UncleEbeneezer: I don’t care what their personal relationship is. Or isn’t. Theoretically speaking…
Unless you’re just fucking someone for shits and giggles, I can also see that you would have faith in their judgement and might trust them to handle an important, complicated case.
japa21
@prostratedragon: Looney goosey
Cheez Whiz
Can anyone explain what is “improper” about this purported relationship? Lawyers hook up all the time on Law & Order.
TriassicSands
Will Americans ever learn that mixing God, religion, the law, and politics is very bad for this country. Freedom of religion and a just society require keeping religion out of politics, government, and the law. (See Israel/Gaza/West Bank in 2024)
I don’t know if anything today would benefit this country more than the strictest imaginable separation of Church and State, although a universal understanding of and appreciation for the threat the Republican Party and Trump pose certainly might. Getting religion out of government and the law would surely benefit women of child-bearing age immensely. If there is any truth or relevance to the accusations against Willis, God does not provide an excuse. I have no idea what is or isn’t true about Ms. Willis and her conduct in this case,* but bringing God into the mix does nothing for me. I can’t and won’t condemn or accuse Willis, because I don’t have any idea what she has or hasn’t done apart from getting a criminal indicted and that was a good thing.
*I do know that Trump is a criminal and the charges against him are not bogus.
We all know how much credibility the American Right has today. They throw around phony charges right and left. That doesn’t mean that no one on the Left is never guilty of problematic behavior — see Senator Menendez. But, today, nothing that comes from the Right can be taken at face value. I just feel that Willis’ bringing God into this situation is an emotional response that tells me nothing I don’t already know and which has no bearing on the facts. If Right-wing charges were true, then Joe Biden is an international crime lord, but where is the evidence? Their phony impeachment rhetoric against Garland and Mayorkas is garbage. Trump and the Right use God to justify the unjustifiable.
In a strictly legal sense, perhaps, but what about public opinion and the possibility of acquittals or dismissals because of questions the accusations raise? It isn’t as though all jury verdicts are based on strictly legal considerations, regardless of whether they should be.
Jackie
@Martin: Yup. A male reversal role.🙄
At any rate, none of my business, and I believe IF there had been a relationship, it was consensual and in the past.
UncleEbeneezer
@WaterGirl: Agreed. SIL podcast also noted that there is nothing about this (even if true) that would effect the case/verdict in any way. It might hurt Willis with the ethics board or reelection but should have no effect on the trial.
Mike in NC
The history books are going to preserve for eternity that wonderful mob boss quip, “I just need you to find me 11 thousand votes”.
Chief Oshkosh
@Martin:
It’s pretty to think so.
zhena gogolia
@Jackie: Totally.
zhena gogolia
@MomSense: Right.
Bill Arnold
@beckya57:
Trump has a f-in walk-in display case of skeletons.
WaterGirl
@Viva BrisVegas: What’s the old expression? If he shook my hand, I would count my fingers afterwards.
SFAW
@Betty Cracker:
Co-sign.
eclare
@SFAW:
Agree. When I was in public accounting, it was continually stressed that the appearance of impartiality was very important. One coworker was ecstatic to work on a certain client until he found out he had to sell all of his stock in the company.
mrmoshpotato
@Bill Arnold: Dump drags skeletons after him like cans from the newlyweds’ car after the wedding!
mrmoshpotato
@prostratedragon: Hahaha! 🥶
Will
This all has Cunningham in North Carolina vibes. If it’s true, she just needs to say so unless this is a legal issue for her. We really don’t need a drip drip drip of juicier stories just obliterating the facts of the court case.
dexwood
@Bill Arnold: Yeah, he’s proud of them, too. Still doesn’t mean you can have skeletons of your own in his eyes, the eyes of his fucked up cult members.
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
I still don’t understand the accusation. Fani Willis purportedly* hired an underqualified person she had a relationship with and this has what bearing on the case she’s bringing.
Do the texts and recorded phone conversations become any less real? The testimony of witnesses? Would an argument a jury would otherwise fimd persuasive wither under the weight of a single irregular hire amidst a massive, years’ long investigation?
*word performing a mighty lift
different-church-lady
I think it would behoove us to remember she’s a woman with a job to do, not a character in a drama we’re engrossed in.
And it would behoove us to remember this going forward as well. We spend way too much time building up heroes in our minds around here.
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
@different-church-lady: Very true, but it’s a matter of degrees.
The media presents it to us as a drama. We all vary in the degree to which we can see past the show and our biases and what we don’t know through to verifiable fact.
Still, I’d take our side over Republicans’ pure tribalism and dedication to defending the most toxic elements of every constituency they serve.
But absolutely, if we get to bound up in this narrative, it can affect our moods and, perhaps, our efficacy in doing the work needed to build a better nation.
Not only by potentially depressing us, but by perpetuating the myth that only those with power, as traditionally understood, can impact the world.
Shalimar
@The Kropenhagen Interpretation: I don’t get it either. If she hired someone who wasn’t qualified to work on the case, that should help the defendants, not hurt them.
zhena gogolia
@Shalimar: This is what I can’t get around. I don’t see how it affects the fairness to the defendants.
Scout211
I don’t know about anyone else, but I am fine with putting my faith in people who are brave and fight the good fight in life and in politics. I will deal with it if in the future one if my heroes turns out to be less than heroic (see John Edwards) but I am not going to scrutinize their personal life to find flaws in their character in order to see them as less than a hero. Until I learn otherwise, I will see them as heroes for the brave acts that they do everyday to make the world a better place.
But I am not going to tell someone else how they should feel about their own heroes.
Ksmiami
@Burnspbesq: the feds need to absolutely crush them.
Villago Delenda Est
@zhena gogolia: Did the thread up to now answer your question? TFG is accusing Willis of hiring an attorney because she and he have a personal relationship of the romantic variety, which has no proof to support other than the usual innuendo that TFG operates with. Which of course is not proof of any kind, any more than his “fraud” assertions concerning Joe Biden kicking his obese ass in 2020.
Geminid
@Villago Delenda Est: Actually, the accusation was made originally by Mike Roman’s attorney, in a defense motion. They relied on court documents relating to a divorce case that are currently sealed. Right now it’s just their word, but that could change if and when the files are unsealed.
Villago Delenda Est
@Geminid: Ah, thank you for the clarification. TFG has of course picked up the ball.
SFAW
@Will:
Well, fortunately, Senator Cunningham was able to put that all behind him, and not let it derail his campaign.
SFAW
@zhena gogolia:
“Fairness to the defendants” was always going to be an issue they whined about, (ir)regardless of the personalities involved, because it’s what TIFG et al. does. But Willis’s “judgment” (or lack thereof) is now on the table in a tangible way (as opposed to TIFG’s minions making something up).
SFAW
@The Kropenhagen Interpretation:
Thank FSM all Traitor State residents are as rational and sober-minded as you, and that this little “distraction” will have no effect whatsoever.
WaterGirl
@Villago Delenda Est: Trump didn’t pick up the ball. They were in cahoots.
Paul in KY
Assuming she hasn’t ever had a screwing relationship with this dude. If she had, she was cavalier in hiring him. Else, all fine, IMO.
Paul in KY
@Ken: I hope that doesn’t mean she was/is in a sexual relationship with the hire. That would be bad optics, IMO.
Paul in KY
@Betty Cracker: Agree.
Paul in KY
@Shalimar: The insinuation is that she hired a an unqualified beau for a big payday and just thinks of this case in a frivolous way (chance to give a lover/cronies some big bucks) and is only prosecuting this case for those kinds of frivolous reasons.