Fanni Willis 2028 https://t.co/UgKzrHgEs3
— John Cole (@Johngcole) February 15, 2024
I really want to thank The GOP for giving black women voters 9 whole months to plot revenge all over The United States. Thank you for your service.
— Sons of Killmonger & Disciple of Dark Brandon (@2Strong2Silence) February 16, 2024
USA Today headlined its capsule timeline “Fani Willis hearing: a salacious drama that could undermine Trump election interference case”, which just about sums up the Very Serious Concensus: This colored lady was having an extramarital sexual relationship with her big, Black employee — how could that *not* be disqualifying?!?
Richard W. Painter, at the Atlantic, felt called to chip in — “Step Aside, Fani Willis”:
After a two-day hearing in Fulton County, Georgia, we are where we were before. The defendants, charged by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis with conspiring to overturn the 2020 presidential election, attempted to make a case for her disqualification under Georgia law. In my view, they failed. The standard for disqualification has not been met, and the judge should not disqualify Willis.
But that is not the end of it. Willis is a public servant obligated to discharge the duties of her office in accordance with the best interest of the people of Georgia. In this instance, the best interest of the public dictates that she withdraw from prosecuting the case…
Arguing in opposition, Robin Givhan, at the Washington Post — “When Fani Willis took the stand, her fury was precise and laser-focused”: [gift link]
Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis (D) walked into the Georgia courtroom Thursday afternoon where lawyers were arguing over whether she would have to take the stand. It was the back half of the long day’s hearing on whether Willis should be removed from the sprawling election tampering case her office has brought against former president Donald Trump and his associates. But the debate between the dueling teams of lawyers became moot when Willis announced that she wanted to testify. Willis settled into the high-backed witness chair. And then she loosed her fury.
She began by declaring that defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant had lied in court filings when she suggested that Willis had slept with special prosecutor Nathan Wade after their first meeting. She fumed that her privacy had been invaded. She reminded Merchant that, “You think I’m on trial. These people are on trial for trying to steal an election in 2020.” And she held up paperwork filed by defense lawyers in a display of disgust. For no small amount of time, it seemed that judge Scott McAfee was a mere bystander in his courtroom…
Willis’s testimony followed that of Wade, with whom she’s had a romantic relationship — a relationship that sparked these court proceedings. One of the issues at the heart of whether she should be removed from the case is whether she benefited financially from having appointed Wade to it. And so much of the day’s questioning focused on whether Wade footed the bill for plane tickets and cruises to places such as Belize, Aruba and Napa Valley. Wade explained that the two split costs, with Willis paying him back in cash — thousands of dollars in cash. At a time when many businesses only accept electronic payments and many people never carry cash, Wade made a mess of explaining why Willis was handing over wads of untraceable dollars. He began many sentences with, “Here’s the thing …” And by the time he reached the end of the sentence, well, there was no “thing” there…
Willis lectured the gathered attorneys on the philosophy behind keeping cash on hand. Her father taught her that cash was king and a woman should always be financially self-reliant. And so, yes, she had a stash of cash accumulated over time and she used it to reimburse Wade. She dipped into it before a trip so she could pay taxi drivers or barter with vendors. Her description of her father’s advice was a compressed version of a complicated history and modern-day habit. She didn’t go into the discomfort that some Black people have with financial institutions or the ways in which banks have made it more difficult for Black people to do business with them. She didn’t mention that more older people believe in keeping ready cash and that a significant percentage of Black and Hispanic Americans use cash as their predominant payment method. She didn’t have to. She simply talked about what her father had told her to do as a matter of independence and power. “I don’t need any man to foot my bills,” Willis said…
So after two whole days of testimony there is ZERO evidence that Fani Willis has a conflict of interest. Mr. Bradley on the other hand seems to have perjured himself and ruined his legal career.
— Candidly Tiff (@tify330) February 16, 2024
Fani Willis’ testimony evokes long-standing frustrations for Black women leaders https://t.co/7NmNg5t4af
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 17, 2024
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is used to prosecuting high-profile, challenging cases. But as she parried questions about her own personal conduct from the witness stand against the legal teams for defendants her office has accused of election interference, many Black women recognized a dispiriting scene.
“It absolutely feels familiar. There is no secret that the common sentiment among Black women in positions of power (is that they) must over-perform to be seen as equals to their counterparts,” said Jessica T. Ornsby, a family litigation attorney in the Washington, D.C., area.
“Here, Ms. Willis is being scrutinized for things that are not directly related to her job performance, in ways we see other Black women regularly picked apart,” Ornsby said…
DA Fani Willis’ dad Mr. Floyd having to explain that keeping cash is a “Black thing” is peak Black History Month. This was a really effective moment bolstering Fani’s explanation. pic.twitter.com/fCZop0ff3K
— Reecie @BlackWomenViews (@ReecieColbert) February 16, 2024
Once again, the Washington Post — “The life and testimony of Fani Willis’s father, John Floyd III” [gift link]:
A month after Fani Willis was sworn in as the first Black female district attorney of Fulton County, Ga., in 2021, her father said protesters arrived outside her house at 5 a.m. John Floyd III recalled that he “hadn’t seen anything exactly like it, before and after that happened.”
“There were people outside her house cursing and yelling and calling her the b-word and the n-word. And just — it was bizarre,” Floyd testified in an Atlanta-area courthouse Friday morning.
Five days after that incident, Willis announced a criminal investigation into whether former president Donald Trump conspired to try to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results, setting off a chain of events that somehow had landed Floyd on the witness stand on Feb. 16, as part of an evidentiary hearing over misconduct claims against his only child…
Many watching the hearing online commented on details Floyd shared of his personal history. His youth was defined by the civil rights movement, which he said took him from Alabama back to his home in South Central Los Angeles, where he joined the Black Power movement. (As a young organizer, one of the projects Floyd had hoped to complete was setting up a credit union for his community, Floyd recently told California State University’s Tom and Ethel Bradley Center.)
After two fellow Black Panthers were fatally shot at a Black Student Union meeting, Floyd turned to law, enrolling at UCLA, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, though he remained active in human rights campaigns — on the stand, he mentioned he had worked for Nelson Mandela and the campaign to free him from prison.
Floyd also spoke about how, as a criminal defense attorney, he had litigated “probably … a thousand cases” all over the country, though he spent most of his legal career in Washington. He was part of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, he added, and had hoped to live the rest of his life in South Africa, but had to return to the United States “for political reasons.” A film buff, Floyd now lives in L.A., where he is working on a documentary, he told the court.
Floyd also described his increasing fears for his daughter’s safety as threats mounted against her in the wake of becoming the most powerful prosecutor in the most populous county in Georgia…
This is still not true: Willis said she took money out of her retirement to help fund her first judicial campaign (her campaign finance report shows loans, too)
(Willis and Wade also independently of each other testified the start/end times of their relationship in 2022/2023) pic.twitter.com/WniwyMx4AL— stephen fowler (@stphnfwlr) February 16, 2024
So Fani Willis TRIED to hire other lawyers to be the special prosecutor and they turned the job down. Doesn’t sound like someone who was trying to use the case to enrich themselves. https://t.co/6w4Fs6xTGR
— chris evans (@notcapnamerica) February 16, 2024
Can we get Clarence Thomas in court & ask him if he’s ever had sex with Harlan Crow? https://t.co/WucJYn2IM1
— Michelle (@Eaglefly124) February 16, 2024
Baud
Media loves telling Democrats to step aside.
H.E.Wolf
Misogynoir on display.
Leto
Comic that should’ve been included with the post up top:
“You’re confused. You think I’m on trial. These people are on trial for trying to steal an election. I’m not on trial.” – Fanni Willis
H.E.Wolf
In case I was too cryptic: Fani Willis is being held to a standard very few white male prosecuting attorneys would be held to.
Leto
Meanwhile, in Tennessee…
lowtechcyclist
And who is going to prosecute this case if she should step down? Would that person be Willis’ equal both in ability and willingness to prosecute this case? ISTR there’s a bit of doubt about finding someone else who is genuinely willing to tackle this one. How would it serve the interests of the people of Georgia if the case was dropped, or taken over by someone whose lack of interest in pursuing this case amounted to the same thing?
This is such bullshit.
hells littlest angel
It is vital that Democrats avoid even the appearance of impropriety. But Republicans? Whaddaya gonna do? Be grateful they don’t murder your children, cuz you know they want to.
Almost Retired
I watched most of this and later discussed it with a bunch of colleagues (we’re all plaintiff side employment lawyers). Although this matter was apples and oranges compared to our practices, we all agreed on two things:
First, we would NEVER counsel our clients to be that combative, discursive or verbose;
and
2. She knocked it put of the park. So hopefully she wouldn’t have listened to any of us.
Although she is in a powerful position and is extraordinarily accomplished, she was so fucking relatable. Now THERE is someone I want to have a beer with (although we’d split the tab).
hells littlest angel
@H.E.Wolf: A white male prosecutor would have suffered very harsh teasing and pokes in the rib from his colleagues.
piratedan
@H.E.Wolf: yeah, watching some people who want her to step down because of some alleged impropriety that has no effect on the case because everything has to be “perfect” is some serious fucking bullshit. You (and Ms. Willis) are spot on with the idea that its a fucking reach to even bring this up, much less entertain it as a reason for Trump being unable to get a fair trial. She’s NOT on trial and no one gives a shit who she slept with unless its the judge or with someone who’s a witness.
Baud
@hells littlest angel:
And if they do, think about why you deserved it.
BlueGuitarist
@H.E.Wolf:
exactly.
Remember the millions of dollars to John Roberts’ wife?
Not holding my breath for the people saying Ms. Willis should step aside to call for Roberts’ resignation. also: Kavanaugh, Alito, Thomas.
hueyplong
“The standard for disqualification has not been met, and the judge should not disqualify Willis. But that is not the end of it.”
Yes, that is the end of it. And F you for saying otherwise.
waspuppet
Wait — why didn’t they call her testimony “fiery” and “combative,” like they do with Trump, Kavanaugh, Alito and a whole lot more?
(Puts finger to earpiece) Oh. Oh, right.
Chetan Murthy
@hueyplong: Richard W. Painter, Republican Daddy. Longtime Republican, made his bones workin’ for Dubya among others. Yeah no. Sure, it’s good that he’s anti-TFG. Doesn’t mean he’s right on anything else.
RaflW
F*ck Richard Painter. Here’s what he really said: “In my view, the standard for disqualification has not been met, yet she is disqualified, because …” (guess why, misogynoir edition)
Also what huey said.
raven
This plays into the same shit as the 96 Olympics, “Those people can’t run a city”.
bbleh
Oh but there’s an appearance of impropriety, you see, because we said there might actually be one. Therefore she must step aside.
The economic anxiety must really be starting to pinch …
Leto
@lowtechcyclist: she was the only prosecutor willing to take the case. All of the others refused to even look at it. That tells me everything.
Dan B
@Leto: And there was a funeral service at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in NYC for a trans activist. Catholics are calling for an exorcism to rid the cathedral of “evil spirits”. How do you make Catholicism look even more superstitious and medieval? Apparently the priest stated that there were more people in attendance than any time but Easter. Several commenters pointed out that Jesus spent time with prostitutes.
Steve in the ATL
@raven: Roy Barnes looks like hell, doesn’t he? Still the only good governor since I moved to Georgia in 1989.
Baud
@Dan B:
And they killed him for it.
Steve in the ATL
@Dan B: “and Jesus said unto Mary Magdalene, ‘your money is on the dresser’”.
bbleh
@lowtechcyclist: this is more complicated from what I think I understand. Normally other prosecutors from the office would step in, and presumably the case is well enough developed by this point that it wouldn’t be disabling. But apparently there’s some state-level panel that would get involved that has some kind of review power, ie the power to delay and/or sidetrack the prosecution? Maybe even appoint the replacement? And of course that way lies all the usual Republican bad faith and outright subversion.
hueyplong
@bbleh: These people spent four years essentially arguing that the appearance of impropriety does not matter. Nor does impropriety itself. Being lectured by them on the topic is offensive.
kalakal
@hueyplong:
Exactly. He should have shut up at that point. After that it’s pure bullshit.
It’s like saying “I’m not a xxxxist but…”
Baud
@hueyplong:
@kalakal:
Shades of Comey’s “Hillary didn’t do anything illegal but I’m going to give you extra commentary about the situation.”
Mingobat (f/k/a KareninGA)
Hey, let’s do a column about how Willis did nothing wrong but should still step—what? The former governor of Georgia said he’d need bodyguards for the rest of his life if he helped to prosecute Trump? Oh, yeah, I think I heard him say something about that. Anyway, as I was saying, here’s a column about how Willis should step down even though she did nothing wrong.
Peke Daddy
@hueyplong: Channeling Biden’s special counsel, he did.
schrodingers_cat
Who is Richard Painter? Is he Ezra Klein’s cousin? Are they also calling on the Orange Beast not to run?
If not they can fuck off. We don’t need their moral and tone policing.
In this hostile environment for democracy and Democrats, some esteemed galaxy brains on our side think that Dem elected representatives telling people not to vote for Biden during the primaries is a smart idea
I am sure these same people will rush to their fainting couches if Biden were to campaign for the opponents of the said represenatitive in a primary.
Chetan Murthy
@schrodingers_cat:
Calling for TFG to step aside and let somebody else run: dog bites man
calling for Biden to step aside and let somebody else run: man bites dog
only one of them is “newsworthy”.
Baud
@Chetan Murthy:
If I had DougJ’s talent and initiative, I would have started trolling the media with how Biden should step down and Kamala should be the nominee. Because no one who is demanding that Biden not run wants that outcome.
TriassicSands
Not serious at all, because, as everyone knows, Clarence Thomas is the most honest jurist in the history judges. He would never allow himself to be swayed by anything other than his own desire to cripple the executive branch, dictate what women can and can’t do, make Christianity the official religion of the U.S., support the needs of his wealthy benefactors while reaping all the swag he can from them, and return the country to its original condition in 1789 — with the exception, of course, of his own situation as an African American, since where he was born (in Georgia) he would have been a slave. Realizing that he wouldn’t have been getting any exorbitant perks from his own or anyone else’s “master,” Clarence has omitted that part of his originalist thinking from his vision of America and jurisprudence. In short, honest Clarence would never do anything that limited his lifestyle or made people he doesn’t approve of free to live their lives as they see fit.
As such, Clarence is the most reliable SCOTUS justice imaginable.
Alison Rose
After weeks of this, I still do not understand why who she might or might not have banged and when has anything to do with the case. I guess I’m just a libertine freak or something.
Slightly related sidenote: I just finished reading Witchcraft: A History in Thirteen Trials by Marion Gibson, which was really good, and at the end I saw in her author bio that she is a professor of Renaissance and Magical Literatures at the University of Exeter in the UK, and now I need to know if I can audit that course online from California for free because YES PLEASE.
Shalimar
@piratedan: “Slept with” past tense. I think a really important point that isn’t being discussed is that the relationship ended 6-9 months ago. Under the bullshit theory defendants are trying to get the judge to buy, that Willis only brought the case so she could get benefits and money from Wade, why is he still on the case and why hasn’t she dropped it now that the relationship is over?
None of their arguments make any sense, but that is the dumbest aspect to me. Women apparently only do things to please men, so why hasn’t she turned on him now that he isn’t her boyfriend anymore?
Scout211
Bradley as a star witness seems to have been a very bad call. LOL
He was Wade’s law partner and handled Wade’s divorce. He appeared to violate attorney-client privilege when he communicated with defense attorneys sharing personal information about Wade’s divorce and his relationship with Willis.
He was forced to leave the law firm after charges of sexual assault. But on the stand, when prosecution asked him about that, he claimed attorney-client privilege for the fact that he was fired for those assault charges.
McAfee stopped the questioning and made plans for a private meeting, implying that Bradley needed to explain his likely violation of privilege and also refusing to answer questions claiming made-up privilege,
He did not come off well.
Baud
@Shalimar:
I wish!
Harrison Wesley
The tut-tutting sounds like “worse than a crime – a blunder.” Which is really stupid in this context.
Alison Rose
@Baud: And Jesus said: “The head was worth it.”
Leto
@Shalimar: on top of the fact that the rate she offered for these jobs was substantially less than what he was making, so how is this a benefit? Just fucking stupid all the way around, no matter how you slice it.
Burnspbesq
Merchant has an ethical obligation to zealously represent her client. I don’t think it’s appropriate to give her too much shit for throwing this particular pot of spaghetti against the wall. But hopefully the irony—she’s doing this while married to counsel for another defendant—is not lost on anyone.
And this judge has been dead-on in his rulings to date. I’m confident that he can tell the difference between chicken salad and chickenshit.
Shalimar
@Steve in the ATL: Little did Roy Barnes know he was passing up a chance to have an affair with Fani Willis.
Another Scott
Relatedly, … When you come at AngryBlackLady, well, let’s just say that you better not come at AngryBlackLady.
Thread
(or, if that gives troubles, Twitter version)
Grr…,
Scott.
Spanish Moss
@Almost Retired:
Glad to hear that lawyers thought she knocked it out of the park. I loooved every minute I saw (just watched clips, not the entire thing)!
TBone
Film recommendation:
https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/484792/witness-to-apartheid#synopsis
TBone
Deleted
beckya57
There’s nothing to be gained from her stepping aside at this point. The damage is already done, and a Republican DA could get the case and deep-six it. That doesn’t change the fact that she acted recklessly and unprofessionally, and has endangered a crucial case. And don’t tell me it’s wrong that the rules are different for women/minorities/Democrats than for rich white male Republicans. Yes, of course they are, and it’s terrible, and that’s the world we live in, and she of all people knows it. I’ve been having Clinton-Lewinsky flashbacks all week. A black female DA going after one of most powerful men in the country can’t act like this. Just a terrible own goal.
Alison Rose
@beckya57: So the rules are different for less-privileged people, and that’s bad, but those less-privileged people should all abide by those unfair rules anyway because they exist?
TBone
I watched all of Day One (the “boring” part) and when Fani strode in and took the stand LIKE A BOSS I was cheering. Seeing a fierce attorney do what they do best is delicious; when they’re on the right side of history, it’s even better. Fuck all the haters and pearl-clutchers. Yes WE HAVE SEX AND ARE NOT ASHAMED. GET OVER IT.
NotMax
@beckya57
That is Republican framing. What she’s “going after” isn’t the person, it’s the crimes alleged to having been committed by that person (and by his co-defedants), as recommended by a grand jury.
Chetan Murthy
@Alison Rose: Also known as “we need to stay in a defensive crouch forever and ever”. I mean, I get where @beckya57: is coming from: it would have been better to not have had a life, lived like a monk, and thereby made the job of prosecuting TFG easier. But it’s a little silly to ask people to do that: the sort of people with the gonads to prosecute TFG aren’t the kind who are gonna also want to live like monks, I would think. It takes *confidence* to run such a prosecution, and not a little bravery.
Baud
@TBone:
You obviously haven’t had sex with me.
bbleh
@Burnspbesq: glad to hear you say that. For a young guy, he so far has seemed to keep both his cool and his own counsel. And I was heartened to hear that he used to work in the DA’s office, under Wade. I’ll be interested to see where he comes down on this.
@hueyplong: Being lectured by them on the topic is offensive.
Doubly offensive, because they fkin revel in impropriety. For them, it’s a validation for themselves and a sign to the Tribe that they are not bound by stoopid “rules” or “propriety.” Those are for Untermenschen. They are Alphas and not only can do what they want but should by right do what they want.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Tale of three YouTube titles:”SEE IT: Fani Willis’ entire explosive testimony”
“See Fani Willis’ entire defiant testimony in stunning courtroom moment”
“Fani Willis’ ‘train wreck’ testimony brings her fitness for office into question”
Can you guess which one might be Fox?
TBone
In case anyone is unaware of how deeply disgusting some of our judges, attorneys, and politicians can be, may I remind you about Porngate in Pennsylvania and the really fucked up porn emails circulated by our “best and brightest” while AT THE OFFICE. This female AG went through absolute HELL exposing the vile porn that was passed around via email while these men were supposed to be working.
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a42234/porngate-pennsylvania-kathleen-kane/
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2015/12/pennsylvania-porngate-kathleen-kane-email-scandal
https://whyy.org/articles/porngate-emails-spur-claims-of-racist-targeting-against-philly-prosecutor-fina/
“…Loads of pornography littered the exchanges between government officials like so much cow shit in an open field. Office-secretary porn. Sarah Palin-Photoshopped porn. Hardcore, objects-stuck-in-a-woman’s-every-orifice porn. The more she clicked, the worse it got. Fat jokes. Gay jokes. Racist jokes. Domestic-violence jokes.The bulk of which were sent on state computers, on state time, from one state employee to another…”
Omnes Omnibus
@beckya57: Oh, complete and utter horseshit.
TBone
@Baud: 😘
Mingobat (f/k/a KareninGA)
@Baud: IIRC, the “Biden is old” thing went from mutterings to a deafening roar a few months ago, after a few weeks of “Biden should find another running mate” failed to make any headway. IMHO this is all about the Black female VP.
Geminid
I remember seeing Richard Painter a few years ago, back when I had cable TV. I think he was on MSNBC. Painter has a funny way of speaking..
Q: “How do you tell Richard Painter is lying?”
A: “His lips aren’t moving.”
HinTN
@Leto: That guy filming had it exactly right. The Nazis are cowards and they should be reminded of it every damn time they march. It’s legal, I’m sure they had a permit, but their bravado comes from anonymity.
bbleh
@Omnes Omnibus: it really is to lol. “Different standards apply for women and Blacks — and worse still when you’re both 😱 . That’s just the way the law is!”
TBone
@NotMax: thank you! The Grand Jury gets lost in the shuffle too often.
MazeDancer
Ms Willis was gloriois. Alternated between standing up and snap waving my fingers and shouting “Go get ’em, girl” and “You tell ’em, Fani!”.
Sometimes, I did all three.
Women on Twitter, especially Black women, were alive and supportin’!
TBone
@MazeDancer: ❤️💜🩷🤎💙
Baud
Via reddit. Can you spot the NYT dig
TBone
@Almost Retired: hugs
sanjeevs
Willis should be appointed AG as soon as she is done with the trial.
Incidentally Donald Tusk is taking a muscular approach to rooting out PiS officials buried in state media, the civil service and judiciary. He is rising the polls even as PiS scream blue murder.
Gretchen
That was ugly. They smeared a guy who isn’t even involved in the case, Wade’s divorce lawyer. Tristan Snell, who prosecuted Trump in a fraud case and won, is tearing his hair out, asking why the media is taking all this at face value when Trump has been everything in his power to personally smear lawyers going up against him for decades. Why can’t they see that this is his MO, not some unique circumstance of corrupt lawyers who just happen to all be black?
zhena gogolia
@NotMax: Right.
TBone
@Gretchen: bingo. I smelled the ratfucking from my faraway perch on day one.
Lyrebird
@Burnspbesq: So the person asking questions when DA Willis gives her ice cold and dead-to-rights responses, that’s Merchant?
It looks like the irony is very clear and present in Willis’ mind.
Lordy I would never want her (F.W) job. Apparently even other prosecutors wouldn’t take her job. I figure that she should avoid having romantic relationships with either Merchant, same for any lawyers representing defendants, ditto any judges* involved, and otherwise she oughta be free to pursue her private life with any consenting adult she fancies.
Demmit.
That’s leaving aside the whole hypocrisy-is-dead aspects of this.
*One relative who worked at the DoJ assured me that this has happened.
Princess
I’ve learned two things I didn’t know from this post and comments that I think are key:
1. Willis asked a white guy to do the job first. But he was too scared to do is do two Black people are going to save democracy for us.
2. The lawyer for the defendant is married to the lawyer for another defendant.
To paraphrase rikyrah, get the phuck out of here.
Lyrebird
@Almost Retired: So you are the type of lawyer usually sitting opposite @Steve in the ATL: in a labor negotiation?
Anyhow, this fits a pattern:
Did you get to see the mini-video Ken White aka PopeHat made when this first broke? The guy who’s on record over and over, it’s never RICO, you can’t win with RICO, please stop with RICO? And for this, he made his grudging and hilarious mini-video, “okay… yes… IT’S RICO.”
So DA Willis is exceptional all across the board here.
ETA: @Princess:
A more senior and powerful white guy, to boot! So, yes.
TBone
Lots of attorneys are married to attorneys and date attorneys and clients and their office staff. I’ve been chased around a desk more times than I care to remember. One snowy day, I called the boss to tell him I wasn’t driving. He picked me up. I had to have him stop the car and let me out by threatening to blackmail him with what he had just propositioned. I walked home in the snow without proper winter gear, but I wasn’t cold.
Jackie
@MazeDancer: I was loudly cheering her on, too! My Dad would have called her a “pistol,” as high praise! 😂
TBone
“If you try to touch my ass again, you’ll be drawing back a nub.”
MomSense
I’m feeling like a boss – finally got my house on the market and had my first showings yesterday and today. Got an offer for my asking price! Woah. Need to review because there is a condition I’m not sure about. At least I feel like I can do this.
The potential buyers have dogs and like the access to trails.
rikyrah
@Baud:
Oh Baud😂😂😂😂😂😂
Fake Irishman
@MazeDancer:
It’s almost like DA Willis recognized this is a political moment in addition to a legal one; therefore requiring a political response and not merely a legal one. She managed her testimony accordingly.
Hoodie
@Princess: Seems like #2 could become a conflict if one of the defendants pleads out and turns state’s evidence. The Willis – Wade thing isn’t a conflict.
rikyrah
@Mingobat (f/k/a KareninGA):
It’s absolutely about the Vice President😒😒😒
Baud
@MomSense:
👍
rikyrah
@MomSense:
Yeah….hope that you sell your house for what you need.🤗
rikyrah
It’s a 50 part series.
When I tell you that this woman needs to get an attorney, who needs to :
1. Get her a ghostwriter to get this in a book
2. Needs to sell this to Netflix or Lifetime as a limited series
When they say truth is stranger than fiction, this should be THE definition.
I am surprised that she made it out of the marriage alive.😳😳😳
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8K8EaaF/
bbleh
@MomSense: booyah! Having recently completed a transaction where I didn’t get QUITE what I wanted, I am nevertheless HUGELY RELIEVED AND HAPPY (and still occasionally checking the bank to make sure the money’s still there). Moral: don’t quibble over details. If something makes you a little itchy, consider what happens if you go ahead anyway, and conversely what happens if you turn it down. (Of course, if it’s a serious problem, then … well, it’s a serious problem. Our first contract collapsed because, at the end of the day, they really weren’t serious about it.)
raven
@Steve in the ATL: Too bad he decided to fuck with school teachers a gave the state away.
Princess
@Hoodie: Exactly.
NotMax
@raven
Hey, the money for all those schoolhouse litter boxes had to come from somewhere.
//
raven
@NotMax: This was 20 years ago.
hitchhiker
What’s making me sick is listening to people saying with perfectly straight faces that the jury will be skeptical of a prosecutor who got involved with one of the lawyers on the team.
The chances that a single white dude DA having a brief relationship -especially an amicable relationship that ended the way adult relationships do — with one of the lawyers on the team would be called on to resign because the jury might raise an eyebrow are ZERO.
The defense will absofuckinglutely talk about this, and the ONLY way to punch back is to do what they would do: say “so what” right in their phony faces. It’s nobody’s goddam business. That’s why what she did last week was so badass. Her whole attitude was, “You think you’re gonna shame me? Embarrass me? Fools.”
The woman has a home she can’t live in because idiots are idiots. Her father stayed in it so that it wouldn’t be vandalized. She took on the goddamn trump machine, and people like a W administration lawyer are wringing their hands and saying she’s not pure enough. Even the appearance of an ethics problem is just too much. Jurors are not going to be able to understand.
Jesus fucking christ. It’s like everyone is suddenly in middle school.
geg6
@Alison Rose:
Exactly. Fuck that shit.
sdhays
@Leto:
So, Ms. Loomer still identifies these rancid pieces of shit as “on her side”. If you don’t know anything about her, you don’t need to know anything else.
sdhays
@hitchhiker: Why would the jury find out about this? Talking about it would just be a version of the Chewbacca Defense, wouldn’t it?
hitchhiker
@sdhays: I think the idea is that no matter what they say in voir dire, jurors can’t help but be aware of What She Did, and thus less inclined to believe her because of her obvious moral and ethical issues.
Mind, this is the argument people who know trump is guilty and want to see him convicted are making. Srsly, they want her off the case only because her adventures with Wade mean that she’s … tainted.
No.
She owes them nothing, she has nothing to explain, and I was glad to see her march into that courtroom and say so.
Alison Rose
@sdhays: THAT DOES NOT. MAKE. SENSE.
Still a classic.
sdhays
@hitchhiker: I’ve never been on a jury, but I can’t imagine finding office gossip about the lawyers pertinent to the case.
But I still don’t understand how these accusations, even if true, had anything to do with the case. As I’ve said before, it’s, at best, an administrative corruption issue, nothing to do with Trump et al being prosecuted fairly. 🤷
Shalimar
@hitchhiker: What obvious moral and ethical issues? As a lawyer, I’m failing to see anything that violates any ethical codes. She dated a guy who was getting work from her office. It didn’t last very long. People tend to date others from their work/profession. This is true of everyone, not just lawyers.
hitchhiker
@Shalimar: That was irony. There are no moral and ethical issues, except the ones trump’s lawyers are pretending to care about.
It’s a lot like that night trump had a bunch of women who had accused Bill Clinton of assault/rape lined up in the front row of the audience when he debated HRC.
Given what’s happened since (Carroll judgment, trial re Daniels payout), that was pretty disgusting. Trump was just being as ugly as possible, pretending to give a flying fuck about those women while working to embarrass Hillary.
Now his lawyers are pretending to give a flying fuck about legal ethics while working to embarrass Willis. Willis had the only possible response all ready to go. Fuck you and all your insinuations. Yes, I had a com-pan-ion. No, I did not need his mon-ey.
wjca
When I’ve been on a jury, it wasn’t about believing the lawyers for either side. It’s about the evidence.
At most, the lawyers ask questions to bring out, and mention in their closing statements, points of evidence that they don’t want the jury to forget. Witness credibility is important. Lawyers’ credibility? Not really.
Alison Rose
@wjca: Especially since most people just kind of assume all lawyers are slimy to some degree. I’m not sure there’s another profession that has more jokes about it, and none of those are about how awesome they are
To be clear, I don’t think Willis is slimy here at all, and I cannot grasp why I’m supposed to think she is. But in general, the notion that a lawyer maybe not being ethically perfect would sway a jury is kind of ridiculous.
NotMax
@Alison Rose
Used car salespeople.
Alison Rose
@NotMax: Ehhh I don’t know. Mostly people just talk about them being lying pieces of shit. I don’t know many actual jokes about them, whereas lawyers…
NotMax
@Alison Rose
Ever seen Call Me Fitz?
:)
Shalimar
@Alison Rose: I actually assume Willis is the opposite of slimy. Rhere are codes of ethics. They have been written by judges and lawyers for centuries to guide potential conflicts of interest that they consider serious. People may consider all lawyers slimy, but the people who write the codes and try to enforce them are honestly doing their best to maintain ethical standards. And Fani Willis appears to me to be the kind of hyper-competent person who would be aware of exactly what she is allowed to do and model her behavior to stay within those standards.
Her detractors are taking advantage of people not knowing actual ethical standards for the profession and assuming she must be lying because she doesn’t meet their personal sense of what is or is not moral. Whereas I think she has most likely followed the rules scrupulously as far as conflicts of interest and dating because she has an elected position that she wants to keep. Lawyers do not consider it unethical to date each other as long as it doesn’t prejudice their work or their clients.
grubert
@RaflW: exactly my words this morn, and loud. I used to respect Painter, but he can just FO w this shit.
.
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@Baud: Yeah, it’s so curious how they keep sayingBIden should step down and then in the next breathe they are all…but there is no one, no one young to step into his shoes. Jesus Christ on a pogo stick, Kamala Harris could take over tomorrow and do a great job…except for all the people (too many of them Dems who do the, Of course I want to see a woman as President, just not THAT woman. Oh gee ! where have I heard that before?…..)
This shit is exhausting.
I hate the fact that the Fani Willis hearing is going on, but I am enjoying the hell out of her bringing the receipts straight at them…it’s 2024 this shit needs to stop.