Sen. Raphael Warnock slammed former President Donald Trump for his most recent attack on Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis as a judge weighs the dismissal of the Georgia election interference case due to Willis’ one-time fling with the special prosecutor.
The latest controversy flared as Fulton Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee is set to decide whether Willis can continue to oversee the Georgia election subversion case against Trump and more than a dozen co-defendants after her secret romance with attorney Nathan Wade was revealed in a motion to dismiss in early January.
While awaiting McAfee’s March 15 ruling, Trump has stepped up his attacks on Willis as he sought to sway the court of public opinion in his favor and build momentum to potentially knock off President Joe Biden in an election rematch in November.
Trump’s latest scurrilous comments came Saturday during a campaign speech in Rome, Georgia, where the GOP front-runner unsurprisingly went on the attack again, branding Willis as “corrupt” and asserting her actions should have led to a dismissal of the case, which the judge indicated was not likely, even in light of Willis’ conduct.
Trump accused the Fulton DA of leading a “witch hunt,” echoing one of his main grievances from the campaign trail, as the former president faced the prospect of four criminal trials in the middle of the 2024 election season.
“Corrupt Fani Willis hired her lover Nathan Wade so they could fraudulently make money together,” Trump told a large crowd of his supporters, suggesting imaginary pillow-talk between Wade and Willis. “‘Let’s see, darling, who can we go after? Let’s go after Trump.”
Trump has been known for publicly targeting his political adversaries, often using provocative language, dog whistles and insults to stir controversy and energize his supporters.
Warnock, a Georgia Democrat who helped flip the state blue along with Biden in 2020, suggested that Trump was manipulating the romance scandal to damage Willis and get her removed from the case as the former president faces 13 criminal counts accusing him of racketeering and conspiracy.
Asked about the remarks on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday, Warnock called out Trump for always taking aim at Black women.
“I’m never surprised when I’ve seen Donald Trump attacking women, especially Black women,” the senator told Jake Tapper. “This is who he is.”
Following Warnock’s remarks, the Trump campaign clapped back at the junior senator.
“Rafael Warnock is a loser who is trying to cope with a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome because President Trump is crushing Crooked Joe Biden in the polls in Georgia and other battleground states,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung told The New York Post.
In the past, the former president has lashed out vehemently at several Black judicial officials overseeing several civil and criminal cases against him.
They include New York Attorney General Letitia James, who recently won the multimillion-dollar civil claim against Trump’s businesses; U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is presiding over Trump’s prosecution in the federal election interference case; and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who indicted Trump on 34 felony charges related to a hush-money scheme involving former adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Willis’ investigation focused on a phone call Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in January 2021, in which Trump pressured Raffensperger to “find me” 11,780 votes, the exact number he needed to overturn his election loss in the state.
During Saturday’s speech, Trump reiterated that his phone call with Raffensperger was “perfect.”
Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges last summer and continues to maintain his innocence amid a mountain of other legal and financial troubles.
During Sunday’s news segment, meanwhile, Warnock would not say whether he thought Willis should remain in charge of Trump’s prosecution in light of her involvement with Wade, whom she hired to bring the case before they began seeing each other behind the scenes, leading to allegations of ethical and financial misconduct.
During a February hearing to determine the veracity of the romance allegations, Willis and Wade maintained that their relationship began after the district attorney appointed him to prosecute Trump. They purportedly broke off the romance last summer.
Both denied that they benefited financially from the relationship as lawyers questioned Wade’s salary and whether Willis paid for her own luxuries as the pair traveled together.
Warnock said the case will ultimately be decided in a court of law despite anyone’s opinion about it.
“Donald Trump deserves a hearing before a jury of his peers,” Warnock said. “I’m going to allow the judicial process to proceed.”
Warnock made history in 2020 by narrowly winning a special runoff election in Georgia to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson. Two years later, Warnock was reelected to a six-year term.
On Sunday, he predicted Biden would win Georgia again in November.
“We’ve seen both of these men serve in the White House. That choice is clearly Joe Biden. And Georgians will get it right for Joe Biden just as they got it right for me,” he said.
