Politics
WATCH: CNN Analyst Somberly Lays Out Why Fani Willis’ Case Is Effectively Dead
The number of CNN analysts predicting a total collapse in the Georgia case against former President Donald Trump continues to grow, with disgraced pundit Jeffrey Toobin weighing in over the weekend.
Toobin, back on the network after a months-long suspension for accidentally masturbating during a work meeting, told Anderson Cooper that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ likely perjuring during testimony about her relationship with Nathan Wade could spell the end — not only of her case against the former president, but also her own career as a practicing attorney.
“Today was a very good day for Donald Trump,” Toobin said in response to a decision by Judge Scott McAfee that ordered Willis to recuse herself or dismiss Wade. “This case is going nowhere. Even if in the extremely unlikely event that this somehow staggers to trial in August or in the fall, think about this: There’s another racketeering case in Georgia where jury selection — not the trial — jury selection has taken a year. This case is never going to trial before the election.”
Calling Willis’ handling of the case an “embarrassment,” Toobin said hopes of trying Trump over his involvement in Georgia’s 2020 election are all but dashed at this point.
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“Fani Willis has hung on, but this case is going nowhere very quickly,” he added.
Fellow legal analyst Elie Honig, sitting next to Toobin, agreed back in August that delays sought by Trump’s legal team, including his original attempt to move the trial to federal court, have hampered Willis to say nothing of the self-inflicted damage she has done by carrying on a clandestine romantic relationship with a subordinate who was paid $700,000 to serve on the Trump case.
Wade last week tendered his letter of resignation, prompting Willis to credit him for surviving a blistering several weeks of attacks on both their characters.
“I compliment you for the professionalism and dignity you have shown over the last 865 days, as you have endured threats against you and your family, as well as unjustified attacks in the media and in court on your reputation as a lawyer,” she wrote accepting his resignation, according to the New York Times.
Delays in President Trump’s other trials, including most recently a 30-day extension sought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and a separate appeal by Trump to the Supreme Court’s rejection of his immunity claims, further narrow the window for Willis to complete prosecution. Should the Republican leader defeat President Joe Biden in November, it is widely expected that he would have the authority, and seek, to dismiss the two federal cases against him and almost certainly claim that continuing with the New York and Georgia cases would interfere with carrying out his duties as president.