The prosecutor and judge involved in Donald Trump's election interference case in Georgia are both running for re-election in next week's primary election.
Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis and Superior Court judge Scott McAfee each face a primary challenge Tuesday as Trump's trial is paused for an appeal that would remove the prosecutor from the case against the former president, although it's not clear what might happen if either were to lose their race, reported CNN.
“Some folks were worried that me jumping in the race, you know, might mean we lose that case,” said Christian Wise Smith, an attorney who's running against Willis.
Wise Smith has made breaking the “school-to-prison pipeline” the central theme of his campaign, said the case might benefit from having another prosecutor with less personal baggage than Willis, whose oversight of the case has been challenged due to her personal relationship with former special prosecutor Nathan Wade.
“Would I drop the case?" Wise Smith said. "Let me say this, I think the case is in grave jeopardy right now. I’m not dropping it if it’s there when I get there, but we are going to look at the best way to go forward with it.”
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Trump has appealed McAfee's order allowing Willis to remain on the case if Wade stepped down, which he did, but the judge's challenger, criminal defense attorney and talk radio host Robert Patillo, suggested he had not moved aggressively enough in the Trump case and suggested some of the most explosive testimony in the disqualification matter should not have been held in open court.
“In my courtroom and from my judicial philosophy, there would have a been a lot more things done in camera where we could have had these discussions behind closed doors,” Patillo said.
