Financially benefited from hiring wade and that that created a Conflict Of Interest now, todays ruling is a major victory for willis and her office. But it came with some Harsh Criticism from judge scott mcafee, Who Rebuked Willis for the relationship. And now says that it leaves a stain on the prosecutions team. Cnns Nick Valencia is live outside the courthouse. For us in fulton county, nyc. Youve been watching this case unfold for months . What stands out to you about the decision today well look, fani willis, there were some real concerns that she would be disqualified before today. And as it stands, shes going to be allowed to stay so long as she gets rid of the man whom she was romantically involved in and those close to fani willis or allies. They are seeing this as a big win its a huge win even if its only a technical win on paper. And even if it does come with some blistering criticism from the judge a massive indictment on her behavior. He called some of her testimony on February 15th during those disqualification hearings, unprofessional, and he had some sharp end point in words about her relationship with nathan wade. This is what judge scott mcafee is saying, and part of his decision saying, quote, georgia law does not permit the finding of an actual conflict for simply making bad choices. Even repeatedly, he goes on to say that this finding is by no means an indication that the court condones this tremendous lapse in judgment for the unprofessional manner of the District Attorneys testimony during the evidentiary hearing, weve been hearing from Defense Attorneys including the one that surface these allegations. And while they say they respect the decision, they do feel vindicated in a certain sense. And i also spoke to scott ghraieb man, he faced off against fani willis in an earlier phase of this case when he represented ken chesebro, he criticized judge scott mcafee saying he really kinda split the baby here and says that he expects the Defense Attorneys in this case its primarily steven sadow, the defense attorney for former President Trump, to appeal this decision i hope and expect that the Criminal Defense Lawyers in this case will appeal this decision. And i hope the Georgia Court of appeals has a different view than scott mcafee so the big things that were waiting for here are nathan wades resignation and to see what phase next, what happens next with the District Attorneys office. Will we hear from Fani Willis No indication now, at this point, but The Big Question here is, will they be able to get this case back on track before the november election . Morse tough odds to see the trial take place in august, as they had been forecasting, Nick Valencia live from atlanta. Thank you so much. Lets discuss the case now with National Security attorney bradley moss bradley. Thank you so much for being with us so, judge mcafee here is saying that there is no effective Conflict Of Interests that the relationship between fani willis and nathan wade was not relevant to the charges against donald trump and his codefendants, but he does say that there was an appearance of impropriety that must be removed. Whats your main takeaway from that ruling . Yeah. Yeah. Judge mcafee, here, it was pretty evenhanded ruling. He baked good, decided im not going to throw the baby out with the bathwater here. There was a bunch of smoke. Theres certainly a stain on the reputation now of nathan wade and fani willis and have this prosecution from an optic standpoint. But for as a purpose as a matter of law, in terms of the evidentiary standard that these Defense Lawyers had to meet, they simply didnt have the proof that there was an actual Conflict Of Interests, if there was an actual financial material benefit tied to fani willis and prosecuting this case that would mandate disqualification. But he he agreed with the idea that because has there is this stain on the case that because theres the appearance of impropriety, someone has to go and thats almost certainly going to be nathan wade. The case will continue on. And the question becomes, if this x the trial, will the voters even remember what happened leading up to it, if it makes it a trial and we have a verdict before election day you said it will almost certainly be that fani willis stays and hired a new lead prosecutor. How does that process complicate the case . It doesnt seem like this. August timeline that we were trending toward is tenable sure. So the idea is that she is most likely going to just use rely on your existing team. Shes indicated theyre ready to go within 30 days. Theres no way thats going to happen at this point given that various changes in the schedule since that time, especially with the chaos were seeing out in manhattan right now with the District Attorneys the case the Stormy Daniels matter but its more than likely that what fani willis well try to do is use the existing team that was already there aside from nathan wade, they can pick up the slack from that. He would have otherwise handled and they can still aim for an early fall trial. How were going to figure out this trial schedule for a president ial candidate given that almost all three of the other cases are certainly going to start no earlier than june or july is something that no one really knows yet, the judges have gotta be just gnashing their teeth over right now. Yeah, it is quite possible. She doesnt hire anyone else and just sticks with the team thats in place. I do want to ask you about the potential for a gag order because its something that judge mcafee alluded to he described comments that were made by willis at an Atlanta Area Church in january as legally improper. I want to listen to some of those remarks now. I hired one white vein broome monthly in a great boeing in ohio, one black man. Another superstar a great friend and im grateful. First thing they say oh she going play the rings are now in defending nathan wade there, the defense argued that willis was tainting a jury pool. Mcafee saying that its probably too soon. Were per too far out from Jury Selection for that to be the case. But he he did say that the time may have arrived for an order preventing willis from further discussing the case in public. Do you think that is essentially winking at the defense saying that they should file a motion to impose a gag order on willis i think its certainly was suggesting that they should consider it doesnt mean hell necessarily granted, wed have to see what the scope of any gag order would be, but if im fani willis, i want to retreat from the limelight of this case right now in the sense that let your Line Prosecutors let the team you assembled be the face of this case. Youre the political face. Understandably, you were elected, youre going to always be the phase in some manner, but let your team handle the case, prosecuted, bring it to trial and get a conviction. You want to be in the background as much as possible so that when people think about this case going forward, when they see a possibly going to trial and the lead up to election day hey, there thinking about the evidence in the case, and the thinking about the allegations against down trump. Theyre not thinking about fani Willis Bradley mass. Appreciate the analysis. Thanks for joining us anytime brianna, former President Trump is already fundraising off of judge mcafee is ruling to put things into perspective here, his campaign sending out this text to supporters not long after the decision was handed down here, trumps legal team also releasing this statement, slamming the ruling while respecting the courts decision, we believed that the court did not afford appropriate significance to the Prosecutorial Misconduct of willis and wade including the financial benefits testifying on truthfully about when their personal relationship began, as well as williss extra judicial mlk church speech, where she played theyd the race card and falsely accused the defendants and their counsel of racism we will use all Legal Options available as we continue to fight to end this case, which should never have been brought in the first place. Lets talk about this now. A cnn senior political analyst, Ron Brownstein and republican strategist matt gorman all right. Ron, you tell us what are the political ramifications of this ruling is you see it well, i think the main implication is both at it pushes back the case in all likelihood. And it gives trump and his supporters and reason to view this as illegitimate i dont know if that extends beyond the trump days and that is always really been the question for me. I mean, all of these cases are looking less likely to render a verdict before november, but whether they go to trial is also really significant. Trumps Retrospective Job Approval has been rising in most polls now, he has a higher job approval. Retrospectively, people looking back at his presidency, then he had an any actual point during the presidency, and i think one of the questions is whether any of these cases, particularly ones related to election interference, are underway by the election in a manner that like the january 6 committee reminds voters, particularly those who are pretty tuned out that last 10 of voters dont pay a lot of attention what it was that happened in the immediate aftermath of the 2020 election that i think is the risk to trump at this point more than that, there will be a definitive verdict before the election yeah. The timing obviously hugely important here, matt, it absolutely is. I mean, what weve seen now is yet another, as ron mentioned in bradley mentioned two. This is the third of really pretrial wins with trump the delay in new york, the immunity case going Supreme Court, delaying that. What looked to be just a couple months ago is youre stocked with trump in a courtroom, suddenly looks a little bit more free now, and that changes how he campaigns that changes his message. And i think that also changes, i think tote to rons point, how people perceive him well, let me ask you a little bit about that. Do you think we have to be clear . Shes still on the case. So legally, that is a win for her. But if you go through and read what the judge wrote here repeatedly, he is admonishing her saying that she testified in an unprofessional manner that she made poor choices et cetera. Does it really change the perception of whatever the outcome of this case is among people who had an already decided that they would not accept, say, some sort of verdict that does not serve trump i think a couple of things i think just purely stepping back and you were a prosecutor in your prosecuting the former president of the United States for actions they took in around an election. You have to be above reproach. You cannot give knowing that this will be a politically charged thing. Your political enemies, any sort of thing to latch up on . As weve seen here, her lack of judgment and as the as the judge said gave really let the stain this case and it left trump and his Campaign Something concrete to now use politically and look, im not learned, i can pretend to be when ill leave that to brad and the rest of the folks but also as this trial goes on, if it goes on, if theres an appeal, how they use it also can also be very potent two, but ron it, lets say taking what the judge said here. She stays on the case. She just keeps it business and proceeds with the case whenever that may be an obviously, the timing is a huge issue. I mean, can the case then stand for itself and maybe change some perceptions of her at this point in time if we see how that is carried out the court yeah, im not sure its going to change perceptions of her really the bigger question is whether changes perceptions of trump. I mean, the as i said, i mean, you know, his his Retrospective Job Approval is now at a level that exceeds his actual approval at any point during his presidency. And in some ways thats because people are reacting primarily to the economy before covid all of these cases remind people of some of the anxieties they felt about having trump in the white house, not only the question of whether he is bound by the rule of law or as a threat to kind of the constitution. But just its the sheer chaos and uncertainty and constant drama that surrounded him. So he has a strong interest in putting off any of these trials until after the election. I mean, the Supreme Court has certainly throwing him a big lifeline in that regard on the most consequential of them. But i look i think the damage to her reputation and her judgment has been done, can be undone. The question is, how much of this evidence will be out before the public, before november . That is the real issue here. Yeah. That and also matt, because, you know, a lot of people have no idea about the fake electors scheme. We talk about it all the time. Right . Thats why we look at this georgia case. We know whats important, but there are a lot of voters who completely dont realize that this happened during the election. So how important is it that these facts are erred when it comes to maybe that affecting the outcome, whichever way you want that to go, are also a lot of folks dont follows his closest. We all do their away means its a dinos thing is the january 6 they tend to marshal all these facts together and when you separate case by case, its a little different thing. It focuses the attention that more and certainly in georgia where this is all televised as opposed, i know some districts theyre necessarily not. That does make a difference. I think also to rons point we saw with covid, i think people got tired of trump because hes in your face every day with those covid press conferences. And the like. And i think that wharf some folks down the ability now to not be on tv and courtroom every day, not be the center of attention every day does absolutely help men. I think thats no secret also why youre looking right now. Heres a steady two to four point lead in a lot of polls against joe biden. If he rises to the center, becomes the sole focus, not a horse race with him and biden does that change . Matt and ron . Thank you so much to both of you for your analysis. 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