[NOTE: Quakers aren’t supposed to gamble. But if I was going to break the rule, I’d lay money on the proposition that among all the various agencies and investigators digging into Donald Trump’s efforts to overthrow the 2020 election, the first actual indictments will come from Atlanta and DA Fani Willis.
Why? The answers are in a long, riveting profile in today’s Washington Post, excerpted below.
And as long as I was, in vintage Quaker argot “walking disorderly,” I’d place another bet that Trump himself has read this profile (or had it read to him), and that the experience has already ruined his whole day. Maybe the entire week.
I’d even consider a wager on how much ketchup the Mar-a-Lago staff is wiping off the walls there today.
When I picked up my winnings, I’d spend them on a big bacon cheeseburger & diet coke of my own.]
Quotes of the Day — Washington Post, Jan. 10, 2023
from a profile by Tom Hamburger, Matthew Brown and Ann E. Marimow:
[Fulton County Georgia’s Attorney Fani] Willis’s aggressive and high-profile pursuit of the case — which has included forcing top-tier Trump insiders to testify before a grand jury, and potentially subpoenaing the former president himself — has prompted criticism that she has exceeded her mandate as a local prosecutor.
The numerous other inquiries into Trump are being pursued by federal or state-level authorities who have often worked more quietly than the Fulton district attorney. But those who know her well are not surprised: Willis’s strategy, they say, reflects the nature of a prosecutor who is unafraid to investigate sensitive or seemingly untouchable targets.
“She is a pit bull,” said Vince Velazquez, who served for 17 years as a homicide detective in Atlanta, working frequently with Willis. “If I committed a crime, I would not want to be prosecuted by Fani Willis.”
Observers say that the threat to Trump is real and immediate and that the Fulton investigation could make him the first sitting or former president to be indicted on criminal charges. Willis has said she is considering subpoenaing Trump and has notified at least 18 others that they are “targets” and could face indictment.
“The allegations are very serious,” Willis told The Washington Post. “If indicted and convicted, people are facing prison sentences.”
. . . “The government has only two responsibilities if you live in a democracy,” she said in an interview in her Atlanta office, where the walls are decorated with quotes from historical figures, including Malcolm X, and the phrase “integrity matters” is ubiquitous. “The number one thing that needs to happen in a free society is that you’ve got to keep people safe. The second thing in a free country is the importance of the right to vote.”
. . . Willis, 51, frequently cites her experience in murder, domestic abuse, rape and child molestation cases. “I’ve watched people do horrible things,” she said. “And there’s just no other way around it: They need to go to prison. They need to remain in prison.”
. . . Standing before the jury during opening statements in [a] September 2014 RICO case], Willis explained that the Georgia racketeering law does not require prosecutors to show a premeditated conspiracy with “a formal sit-down dinner meeting where you eat spaghetti.” “What you do have to do is all be doing the same thing for the same purpose,” she said. “You all have to be working toward that same goal.”
. . . Willis took office on Jan. 1, 2021. Two days later came news reports that Trump had called [Georgia Secretary of State Brad] Raffensperger and pressed him to “find” additional votes to overturn Biden’s victory in the state. The call was first reported by The Post.
The next day, Raffensperger appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning America” and suggested that Atlanta’s new district attorney might investigate the call.
Before the show was over Willis was on the phone with a top adviser, Jeff DiSantis, a lawyer and newly named assistant district attorney who was once executive director of the Georgia Democratic Party. Willis said she “instantly understood” that if the [Raffensperger] phone call had taken place in Fulton County, she would have no choice but to pursue the matter. “It was serious enough that it needed to be looked at,” she said.
Postscript: A special grand jury convened as part of the investigation has completed its work and submitted a report that could include recommendations for charges, a judge announced Monday. The judge scheduled a Jan. 24 hearing to determine whether to release the report publicly. Willis could file charges in the case in the coming weeks.
