She’s On the Case
Plus: Election Deniers gain power at the RNC. 🗳️
Published March 15, 2024
The attempt to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was always about delay and distraction. Now that a judge has refused to throw her off the Georgia election interference case, we can get back to the facts.
And the facts, as alleged in the indictment and supported by the public record, are these: Former President Trump tried to hijack a free and fair election in Georgia in 2020. He couldn’t accept that he lost, so he and his allies tried to change the results. They must be held accountable.
Judge Scott McAfee’s ruling keeps us on track for that goal. In what he called a “fact-driven” determination, McAfee found that the defendants who wanted to disqualify Willis failed to prove a conflict of interest.
McAfee stressed that the public must have confidence in the case’s outcome. He gave Willis the option to dismiss a prosecutor with whom she had a personal relationship or withdraw from the case herself. The prosecutor quickly resigned.
So the focus is back where it should be—on the serious criminal charges against Trump and others. With Trump on the ballot again in November, the people of Georgia and voters across the country deserve resolution before the 2024 election.
Now that this sideshow is over, they’re more likely to get it.
This Week in Democracy
- Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis will continue prosecuting the Georgia election interference case against former President Trump and his allies. Judge Scott McAfee ruled on Friday that she could remain on the case as long as the special prosecutor she hired for the case stepped aside. The prosecutor resigned hours later.
- Earlier this week, Judge McAfee dismissed six charges in the Georgia case, including three against Trump. McAfee left the heart of the case, including the racketeering charge against all defendants, intact. Trump and his co-defendants still face a combined 35 felony charges.
➡️ READ: The Georgia charges, explained - Trump allies were elected to lead the Republican National Committee. The committee is also hiring Christina Bobb, a conspiracy theorist, for a key “election integrity” role. Bobb has been involved with widely discredited, partisan election audits, spread election disinformation, and played a role in the fake elector scheme.
- Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson told a U.S. Senate committee that the threats of misinformation and artificial intelligence highlight the need for federal investment in elections. She also called on the federal government to prepare and protect election workers. “We all have a duty to protect the people who protect democracy,” she said.
State of the States
In Wisconsin, the state Supreme Court agreed to reconsider a decision that limited the use of absentee ballot drop boxes in the state. The previous ruling, issued in 2022, banned the use of drop boxes anywhere other than at election clerks’ offices.
Sign up for our weekly newsletter for more here.