by Margot Cleveland at the Federalist
What in the world is going on with Fani Willis’ potentially disqualifying love life? Here’s all you need to know.
AFulton County judge held an evidentiary hearing on Thursday and Friday on Donald Trump and his co-defendants’ motion to disqualify District Attorney Fani Willis’ office from prosecuting the criminal case against them.
Here’s your lawsplainer to understand the significance of last week’s sideshow.
The Indictment
In August 2023, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis charged former President Donald Trump and 18 other defendants in a 98-page indictment. That indictment included a total of 41 different counts, but it was the state-law “RICO” racketeering count that proved the centerpiece of the indictment.
Throughout some 70 pages, the indictment alleged all 19 defendants, “unlawfully conspired and endeavored to conduct and participate in, directly and indirectly, such enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity,” the purpose of which was “to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump.”
Both the RICO count and the 40 other miscellaneous criminal charges suffer from numerous legal and factual problems, as I detailed here. But that is not what last week’s hearing concerned. Last week, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee held an evidentiary hearing on the pending motions to disqualify the district attorney’s office, which defendant Michael Roman originally filed.
Roman, who was a Trump 2020 campaign official,…
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