Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was "out of control" during her testimony in Georgia on Thursday, Fox News' Jeanine Pirro said.
Pirro, co-host of "The Five", dismissed Willis' claim on the witness stand that she was not a "hostile witness" but an "adverse witness" – amid two hours of often times contentious back-and-forths between her and attorneys for former President Trump and his co-defendants in their election cases.
"This is a combination of a very real courtroom, but also with a soap opera, where the characters and with explosions that you don't usually see in a courtroom," Pirro said. "Fani Willis is out of control. All right: No judge would tolerate what she did in that courtroom."
Pirro questioned how Judge Scott McAfee was able to permit Willis' lengthy responses and "condescension" without finding her in contempt. She said that if she had acted as Willis had as a witness, she would likely have been charged.
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While answering questions from Trump attorney Steve Sadow, Willis appeared animated and spoke loudly. Pirro said the incident showed further lack of professionalism from the Fulton County prosecutor, in that "she yelled at [Sadow] and then [told him] ‘don’t you yell at me'."
"She literally thought this was her show; that she was running the courtroom" Pirro said. "When she says, 'I'm not hostile' or she says 'that's an inaccurate way for you to ask me a question', since when are you the judge? – And that the judge let her get away with this."
Pirro questioned how Willis was able to take so many faraway trips, often with alleged romantic partner Nathan Wade – whom she is under fire for later hiring as part of the cases involving Trump and co-defendants – and still have the ability to properly oversee Georgia's largest county office.
Pirro also pointed to Willis' testimony regarding whether she reimbursed Wade for aspects of trips he may have paid for, saying the entire situation involving the pair may hurt her office's reputation.
"The D.A.'s office has a stink on it," she said.
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Co-host Jesse Watters later added that Willis' responses in other ways did not portray her or her office in a positive light.
He keyed into an exchange about Wade being a "world traveler," whom Willis claimed had been to six of the seven continents. During the testimony, attorney Allyn Stockton – representing former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani – asked which continents she traveled to with Wade.
"She said, ‘well I’ve been to Belize – on what continent is Belize?'" Watters recounted. "This woman is prosecuting the former President of the United States. She flies to a country and doesn't know what continent it's on."
"That's just number one. These are not smart or professional people. These are petty people that all of a sudden everyone's looking at – And their dirty laundry is totally exposed," he added.
Watters added it was also unwise for Willis to disclose "to everybody in Atlanta" that she keeps large amounts of cash at her home, adding that she further created a stir when she thought Sadow uttered an explicit sexual term instead of the word "horde" while describing the apparent holdings of cash.
The exchange led McAfee to cut in, "alright; back on track."
Co-host Dana Perino later added that she had sympathy for McAfee, in having to deal with the contentious hearing – suggesting the judge probably thought in retrospect, "I did not think I was going to be presiding over a series of ‘Guiding Light’ in my courtroom."
Perino added that Atlanta is not much different than Walterboro, S.C., where many of the court officials intertwined in the Alex Murdaugh murder trial knew each other, in that regard.
Willis was notably adverse toward attorney Ashleigh Merchant, who represents Trump co-defendant Michael Roman.
Roman, a longtime Philadelphia Republican political operative, alleged in recent court filings that Willis must be disqualified from the case, alleging she financially benefited from hiring Wade due to their relationship.
Willis at one point claimed Merchant's "interests" are "contrary to democracy."
