At this point, it is getting harder and harder for those on the left to continue pretending that the Fulton County’s District Attorney’s office is motivated by anything other than political concerns in its prosecution of former President Donald Trump for election interference.
Last week, the Georgia State Senate heard testimony from Ashleigh Merchant, an attorney representing one of Trump’s co-defendants who spilled the beans about district attorney Fani Willis’ inappropriate romantic relationship with one of the prosecutors she hired to prosecute the case.
During the hearing, Merchant recounted how she found out about Willis’ tryst with Nathan Wade, the prosecutor in question. But she also dropped another bombshell in relation to the effort to railroad the former president: Willis met with Vice President Kamala Harris shortly before issuing the indictment.
Fani Willis had a White House meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris before indicting Donald Trump, a lawyer has claimed during a Georgia Senate hearing.
The claim has since been vehemently denied by White House officials, who say that Willis was attending an event for Black History Month and never met with Kamala Harris.
Attorney Ashley [sic] Merchant showed a committee the White House records detailing that Willis, the District Attorney for Fulton County, Georgia, was in the White House on February 28, 2023, before indicting Donald Trump and 18 others in August for allegedly interfering with the 2020 presidential election result in Georgia.
President Joe Biden won the 2020 election with Harris as his vice president. Willis was elected DA as a Democrat candidate.
Merchant said the White House records she obtained showed that Willis had the meeting with Harris in the company of Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, a Democrat.
The details of the meeting are not known. The White House claimed that Willis’ visit was part of a Black History Month event. A Black Entertainment Television press release confirmed that this was the stated reason for Willis’ visit to Harris’ home.
In honor of Black History Month and in keeping with the theme of celebrating Black excellence, Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff hosted trailblazing Black leaders at their private residence last month.
In collaboration with BET, Harris and Emhoff opened the door to their home on the evening of February 28 to honor a group of emerging, young Black leaders who are making impactful changes in several industries throughout the country. Harris spoke to more than 400 guests at the event about the importance of Black History Month and the responsibility of each generation to carry forward the “baton.”
Nevertheless, this does not necessarily mean Willis and Harris did not discuss the impending indictment against Trump. It is plausible that both individuals could have taken the opportunity to converse about the case.
Willis has denied Merchant’s allegations that her relationship with Wade began before the election fraud case began, claiming the two started dating after the investigation was in full swing. However, Trump’s lawyers argue that phone records disprove Willis’ denials.
These revelations have cast even more doubt on Willis’ integrity and her motivation for prosecuting the former president – as they should. The entire investigation was suspect from the beginning. Legal scholar Alan Dershowitz weighed in on the case shortly after the indictment was announced, noting that the prosecution’s allegations aren’t quite as strong as they might believe.
“There’s no way he can be prosecuted successfully there,” Dershowitz said of the Fulton County investigation, referring to a conversation between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a fellow Republican, on Jan. 2, 2021. “What he said on the recorded tape was, ‘I need to FIND 11,000 votes.’ He didn’t say ‘invent’ or ‘concoct.’”
“He said ‘find,’ which means that they’re there, and you just have to look hard to see if you can find them,” the law professor continued. “I think that’s a complete defense there.”
But, if this indictment, as well as all the others, is motivated by political concerns, those pursuing the prosecutions might not care about how strong their cases are. Since the indictments are intended to influence the outcome of the upcoming presidential election, it appears the Democratic government officials targeting Trump are hoping to cause enough damage to prevent him from defeating President Joe Biden.
The strategy makes sense, but if Democrats fail to play their cards right, it could backfire. With the constant revelations surfacing about this particular case, more voters could see that none of these proceedings are about pursuing justice, an outcome that could push people into Trump’s camp.
