Georgia RICO Case: Nineteen Defendants And Counting

[fraurosena]

Fani Willis gets on the witness stand with all guns blazing. 

 

Holy cow, if you're not watching Fani Willis right now.. if you can, you should. 

[Destiny]

Somehow I missed this and have no idea what is happening, but how is it relevant that sex within the same team is happening? I don't get why this hearing is even occurring and clearly I have some serious research to do after work. I can't comprehend how consenting adults sexing changes facts though.

[fraurosena]

11 minutes ago, Destiny said:

Somehow I missed this and have no idea what is happening, but how is it relevant that sex within the same team is happening? I don't get why this hearing is even occurring and clearly I have some serious research to do after work. I can't comprehend how consenting adults sexing changes facts though.

You and me both on the consenting adults part. But I believe there are accusations of misappropriation of taxpayer money for holidays and other outings.

[Destiny]

4 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

You and me both on the consenting adults part. But I believe there are accusations of misappropriation of taxpayer money for holidays and other outings.

Clearly I need to read up but I can't imagine how that could be true, unless they are flat out embezzling. Without knowing much, I'm going to guess that she's not doing that and we are just shaming a woman for having sex while working in a taxpayer-funded position.

Note: if she WAS using taxpayer funds for vacations then she obviously deserves to be sitting in a defendant's seat herself, but I can't imagine how Trump's issues would be related so this sounds more like slut shaming to me.

[fraurosena]

 

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[GreyhoundFan]

[WatchingTheTireFireBurn]

Publicly people are responding well to her testimony - but shouldn't a seasoned prosecutor be less easily riled up by idiots in a courtroom setting? I hope they're not going to push her buttons and in so doing make her less effective.

I still don't understand the merits of this.....but it **seems** to be that they are saying that Willis wanted to expand and extend the prosecution of trump so that she and the boyfriend could make more money by having a longer trial.

But - wouldn't Willis be a salary type employee for the state?

I'm so confused and I have yet to see somebody break this down in a logical manner.

[fraurosena]

3 hours ago, WatchingTheTireFireBurn said:

I'm so confused and I have yet to see somebody break this down in a logical manner

This is their whole point with these accusations, to confuse people and muddy the waters. To cast aspertions and doubt about integrity. It isn't logical  because there is no there there. Yesterday was proof that it's a fishing expedition, to find something, anything that could be used to bring Fani Willis in a bad light. And it's all about public messaging, not really about any wrongful acts. Trump can only hope to win in the court of public opinion, because he us well aware (or at least his lawyers are) that he will lose this trial.

So long story short, it's no wonder anyone is confused, because there are no logical arguments and it's all about delaying the process and influencing public opinion.

[Howl]

There are a lot of moving parts.

First, the ethical -- did Fani Willis hire her (now ex) lover as a Special Counsel, which by the way, pays very very welll?  Was he the most qualified person or even reasonably qualified for the job, which is one of the most consequential lawsuits in the entire Trump legal saga? BTW, no news source I've seen prior to today noted that the relationshiop ended this summer (2023). 

Let's say that was all legit and above board, horrible decisions on the part of these two for Wade to not recuse, but there you have it. 

But really, none of that matters because THE OPTICS ARE HORRIBLE and they are going to continue to be horrible and will taint public perception going forward.  Why? MAGA and the alt reich are masterful geniuses at weaponizing and manipulating public perception.  Every reich-wing talk-show host,  podcaster, tweeter, influencer, political operative, campaign aide is hammering this 24-7.  And Democrats, sad to say, have not honed a counter insurgency to deflect these kinds of damaging attacks.  

SRSLY, Have y'all forgotten "...but her emails"? THE reason that we are stuck with Trump and didn't get Hillary Clinton.  My neighbor (retired school teacher) actually said those exact words relative to why he voted for Trump. 

Let's review: 

A wet dream of the Georgia GOP? Damage Willis' future electability!  Let's review:  Georgia's Anti Corruption Unit resides in DA Willis' Fulton County office. The Anti-Corruption Unit investigates and prosecutes "cases involving allegations of misconduct by government officials... Matters investigated and prosecuted by the Anti-Corruption Unit include allegations of improper benefits sought by or offered to government officials and election fraud."   

Consider what will happen (or not happen) to prosecuting election fraud if a Republican is elected as the next Fulton County DA?  What will happen or not happen if this RICO case is dragged out until the next election for Fulton County DA and a Republican is elected? 

Let's continue with the Bad: 

Huge win for the MAGA because accusations can be weaponized to be both mysogynistic AND racist? Check!

Plant the idea in the minds of gullible voters that the entire RICO lawsuit is corrupt? Check! 

Confirm in the minds of MAGA that the entire lawsuit is corrupt? Check! 

Used as grounds for endless appeals, otherwise called Delay Delay Delay until Trump is elected?  CHECK! 

Other defendants decide to not take a plea deal to testify against fellow defendants because maybe it will all go away if they wait it out?  Check! 

This side show, now the main event, could actually delay the trial, which is really the point, so double Check! on that one. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[fraurosena]

Fani Willis won't be called to testify today, precisely as Andrew Weissman predicted.

 

[fraurosena]

 

[fraurosena]

 

[Alisamer]

1 hour ago, Howl said:

There are a lot of moving parts.

First, the ethical -- did Fani Willis hire her (now ex) lover as a Special Counsel, which by the way, pays very very welll?  Was he the most qualified person or even reasonably qualified for the job, which is one of the most consequential lawsuits in the entire Trump legal saga?

As best I can tell, including reading a couple articles and his firm's website, I think that's probably a NO. Looks like he had some local judge positions but is otherwise an average general lawyer without even much of a specialty. This seems like a huge step up for him, like suddenly taking the sheriff from a very small town and making them chief of police in a large city. I'd have thought they'd want a lawyer with RICO experience, but seems like this guy is more along the lines of personal injury and minor misdemeanor criminal offenses. 

Like, I feel like I wouldn't be surprised if this guy has a billboard up on I-85 saying "Hurt in an accident? Divorce going south? Call Nathan Wade today!"

It just does have shades of poor judgement, IMO. Like "The former governor turned us down, should we call a specialized RICO lawyer?" "Nah, how about my boyfriend. He was briefly a prosecutor once I think."

Maybe it was all up and up, but I can see why people are looking at it sideways. Still, I don't think this is a "can't prosecute the Trump case" sort of issue, more a "wow this is going to look bad for your re-election" situation.  

 

19 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

 

It definitely says something about Trump that his immediate assumption was "If I take this on I will never be safe again."

[fraurosena]

 

[missy1228]

I used to be a prosecutor in Fani Willis's office. I won't speak to the office itself or its politics, but I can tell you that how she appeared on that witness stand is how ANY prosecutor would be on the stand under these allegations- PISSED OFF. I told my MAGA father yesterday that it is irrelevant to the case who she sleeps with. Are the optics horrible? Definitely. Might it affect her re-election campaign? Definitely. (She also has other hurdles to overcome in her re-election, the office is a mess and she can't keep prosecutors. More have left than have stayed.) Ultimately, it is her name listed as the prosecutor on the case because she is the Elected. But SHE isn't the prosecutor actually handling any part of this case.  There are several ADAs that have been chosen to do so. So, the defendants are doing whatever they can to hide the ball from the potential jury pool... which is Fulton County is HEAVILY DEMOCRATIC, so I don't think their tactics will work. Just my 2 cents, after being in criminal law in this state for nearly 25 years.

[WatchingTheTireFireBurn]

3 hours ago, missy1228 said:

I used to be a prosecutor in Fani Willis's office. I won't speak to the office itself or its politics, but I can tell you that how she appeared on that witness stand is how ANY prosecutor would be on the stand under these allegations- PISSED OFF. I told my MAGA father yesterday that it is irrelevant to the case who she sleeps with. Are the optics horrible? Definitely. Might it affect her re-election campaign? Definitely. (She also has other hurdles to overcome in her re-election, the office is a mess and she can't keep prosecutors. More have left than have stayed.) Ultimately, it is her name listed as the prosecutor on the case because she is the Elected. But SHE isn't the prosecutor actually handling any part of this case.  There are several ADAs that have been chosen to do so. So, the defendants are doing whatever they can to hide the ball from the potential jury pool... which is Fulton County is HEAVILY DEMOCRATIC, so I don't think their tactics will work. Just my 2 cents, after being in criminal law in this state for nearly 25 years.

Yeah this is the part I don't understand...why is TRUMPS trial now bogged down off the side with a whole mini ethics trial for the prosecution lawyers. If Willis has committed an ethical violation isn't that for the GA bar to worry about? Or the GA/Fulton county voters?

  Why is she on trial at all in the middle of Trump's trial.  With respect to it being a trial *about* trump and his actions - her actions for firing hiring and/or misusing money don't actually affect his trial. This part makes no sense at all to me.

If there's credible evidence of a crime then she should be charged with it by whomever charges such things - not trumps defense team. Why is trump's defense team allowed to do this?

This gives a blueprint for every{{rich person}}} trial later - oh ok I don't like my trial, I delay it by digging up dirt on every person on the prosecution team and having my well paid lawyers just drag it all out until the other side gives in.

 

Side bar - I don't know about this Wade dude. But in the real world when you need more workers you call your friends first it's just how life is done. Which is why is many federal type jobs and other public facing type jobs the job MUST be posted for X number of days and people allowed to apply even if you already know exactly who you are going to hire. 

And maybe this dude was hired not for RICO skills, but other skills his has that are more specific - they needed a lawyer good at X and they needed them fast but already had RICO people.

Another thought  - and this one seems VERY likely - maybe other people turned them down. Any republican leaning lawyer probably would have turned any offer down which could be a fair number of lawyers considering this is GA. Further, other people may have been like "this is not a mess I want to get into" "I don't want to be murdered by crazy MAGA people" or "I'm afraid for my family so I can't get on this case"

From what I heard this Wade dude is an arrogant asshole - so I'm doubting he was much worried about the above.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

[Alisamer]

On 2/16/2024 at 6:27 PM, WatchingTheTireFireBurn said:

This gives a blueprint for every{{rich person}}} trial later - oh ok I don't like my trial, I delay it by digging up dirt on every person on the prosecution team and having my well paid lawyers just drag it all out until the other side gives in.

 

This has been the blueprint for Trump's entire life, minus the actually paying his lawyers part. Any problem that pops up he either Ponzi-schemes so someone else pays for it, or he delays, obfuscates, and otherwise drags things out until the opposition is forced to give in, sometimes due to realizing that it's coming to the point where what they are paying out for lawyers is going to cost way more than what they could ever think of getting if they did manage to win the case, and it's better to concede than go broke. 

This works for him often in civil situations, where it's an unpaid contractor trying to get what they are owed. But I think in these state situations he is just going to keep costing himself money the longer he drags things out.

[fraurosena]

On 2/21/2024 at 7:48 PM, Alisamer said:

This works for him often in civil situations, where it's an unpaid contractor trying to get what they are owed. But I think in these state situations he is just going to keep costing himself money the longer he drags things out.

True, it partly is because until now it has always worked in his civil suits-- more or less. But I believe his current motivation is that in his little world, he believes he has a good chance of winning the presidency and making all of his criminal trials go away. So he's delaying so he won't be sentenced before November, and then poof! all his troubles will magically disappear. 

[fraurosena]

Honest mistake my ass.

 

[CTRLZero]

It’s easy to miss something in the redaction process, but why were phone records released to a reporter prior to filing.  Well, I know why, because Trump is attempting to try the case through the media, but still…. 

[fraurosena]

"I was speculating"

 

[GreyhoundFan]

“I’m sorry, your honor, I forgot to put on pants today…”

 

[CTRLZero]

46 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

I’m sorry, your honor, I forgot to put on pants today…”

LOL!  My daughter was running into her living room to teach a zoom class while pulling on her shirt.  (During the pandemic.). She was so embarrassed to find the laptop already running.  🤭

I was taking a course during the pandemic on zoom.  My professor apologized for having to leave the room because she was dressed professionally from the waist up, but had bicycle shorts on.  🫣

I guess it happens….