OAN’s Brooke Mallory
12:02 PM – Friday, February 23, 2024
Judge Scott McAfee of Fulton County Superior Court, who is overseeing the lawsuit involving Donald Trump, financially donated to Fani Willis’ campaign in the past, according to records obtained by the press.
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However, legal experts refuted one news network’s allegation that this fact seems to be a conflict of interest in regards to the Trump case.
“The donation […] though small, appears to present a conflict of interest for Judge McAfee. Judges are supposed to be impartial and avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest. The judge donated to Willis in June 2020, while working for Joe Biden’s DOJ,” the journalist’s tweet read.
Online users also chimed in and corrected the journalist on one of his statements.
Atlanta News First chief investigator Brendan Keefe wrote, “Joe Biden wasn’t president in 2020. Trump was for all of 2020,” he said, correcting Husebø’s claims that in 2020 McAfee was working for Biden’s DOJ.
However, another legal analyst, Philip Holloway, disagreed that this discovery was simply a “nothingburger,” as Democrats have labeled it.
“The donation itself… was made prior to his becoming a judge,” legal analyst Philip Holloway told The Daily Caller. “But failure to disclose to the defendants a political donation to the prosecutor can be seen as a present appearance of a conflict of interest. Judges are required to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest,” Holloway maintained.
It is anticipated that the judge will soon make a decision regarding the prosecution of the former president in Georgia. Trump and the other 14 defendants are charged with plotting to manipulate the outcome of the state’s 2020 presidential election.
Recently, Willis has come under increased scrutiny since she hired Nathan Wade, a special prosecutor in the case who was romantically involved with the DA on the down-low, keeping the secret from colleagues.
The two finally acknowledged their relationship, but denied any misconduct, arguing that Willis should not be removed from the case and that their prior relationship was not a conflict of interest. The district attorney also vehemently refuted claims that she was financially benefiting from the arrangement.
Additionally, The New York Times revealed in August of 2020 that Judge McAfee had worked for Willis at the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office before her election victory.
Previously, a longtime former county prosecutor who was accused of wrongdoing was removed by Willis.
Willis ran for office in 2020 and promised not to engage in sexual misconduct, as her predecessor was accused of doing. She then took office on January 1st, 2021. When reports of Willis’s personal affair and the associated financial consequences emerged, the irony of her campaign pledge became clear.
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