The Lady from Atlanta
DA Fani Willis plays the democracy card.
Former Trump operative Mark Meadows doesn’t want his trial to be heard by an Atlanta jury. Convinced that his case belongs in a Federal Court, ostensibly because he was a federal employee at the time of his exercising sedition, Meadows mocks the authority and mission of DA Willis.
Willis will have none of it.
Of the four — a fifth is in the offing — pending criminal trials that former President Donald Trump is entering, the Georgia trial is the most compelling and expansive. And it is the one that won’t go away, irrespective of Trump’s nomination and possible election as 47th President of the United States.
Interesting to note is the prospect, that of the four, this case, in refusing to go away, will test America’s nerve.
And cause.
The hush money trial in New York is a reach into criminality and it’s coverup, but the political risks for Trump are low. The Mar-a-Lago papers trial, though the least superficially partisan — who can argue with treason to country and people — is fraught with delay, hide and seek, more delay and a Trumpy-rookie judge who’s making it up as she goes along, obscuring intent and sowing doubt. From a political cost perspective, the January 6 case is too “perfect”, like a polished Brancusi sculpture, for the public to grasp. Hence the squabble over allowing public camera coverage in the court room. The “present absence” of a former VP as “star witness” and competing Congressional witch hunts for share of cable audience further cloud Special Counsel Jack Smith’s foray.
Which leaves the Georgia “elector” trial in stage center.
Willis has help. First, her claim on applying the RICO statute to this case: well-known turf for her prosecutorial team. The former President may think he’s special. The public may think he’s special, but to DA Willis and her team, Trump is another thug, hiding behind a web of connections with no fingerprints.
And Willis will have the opportunity to explain in gritty conspiratorial detail the first part of the Raffensperger phone call where 11,780 votes were invoked:
“And you are going to find that they are — which is totally illegal, it is more illegal for you than it is for them because, you know what they did and you’re not reporting it. That’s a criminal, that’s a criminal offense. And you can’t let that happen. That’s a big risk to you and to Ryan, your lawyer. And that’s a big risk. But they are shredding ballots, in my opinion, based on what I’ve heard. And they are removing machinery and they’re moving it as fast as they can, both of which are criminal finds. And you can’t let it happen and you are letting it happen. You know, I mean, I’m notifying you that you’re letting it happen. So look. All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have because we won the state.” (1)
‘And you can’t let that happen.’ This conclusion Willis can replay and replay before the jury to establish that Trump and company were determined to overturn the results if they didn’t go Trump’s way which Trump and company were convinced, they hadn’t.
And one can hear Willis mumble quietly to herself, ‘if I and my staff can’t protect the right to vote in Georgia, how can I, we, this nation support the Constitution?’
What did we swear to uphold?
August 17
Notes
1-Full Transcript of Trump’s Audio Call with Georgia Secretary of State, January 3, 2021, CNN Politics: https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/03/politics/trump-brad-raffensperger-phone-call-transcript/index.html
