Fani Willis Speaks Out Against 'Weapons' Before Disqualification Ruling

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis spoke out about the "weapons" against her and her office in an awards acceptance speech this weekend, just days after testifying in a disqualification hearing connected to her election interference case against former President Donald Trump.

Willis's office is prosecuting Trump and 18 other co-defendants in connection to allegations that the former president led efforts to overturn his lost to President Joe Biden in the state of Georgia in 2020. Her role in the case, however, has been threatened after allegations of misconduct were brought forward by one of Trump's co-defendants, Michael Roman, who alleged that Willis' personal relationship with the special prosecutor she hired for the case caused a conflict of interest.

Both Roman, who is an ex-campaign staffer of Trump's, and the former president have plead not guilty to the charges brought against them by Willis.

Fani Willis Speaks Out Against 'Weapons'
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis testifies during a hearing in the case of the State of Georgia v. Donald John Trump at the Fulton County Courthouse on February 15, 2024, in Atlanta, Georgia. Willis... Alyssa Pointer-Pool/Getty Images

Last week, Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade took the stand before Judge Scott McAfee, who is set to determine if the prosecutors should be disqualified from Trump's case due to their relationship. Both Willis and Wade have admitted to having a romantic affair, but maintain that it started after Wade was hired for the case, and that the relationship did not interfere with the investigation.

Speaking at Atlanta Berean Church on Saturday, Willis addressed the current challenges to her office using Biblical references while accepting a Black History Achievement Award. The district attorney told the crowd toward the beginning of her speech that it was "heartwarming" to be invited to the ceremony, adding, "There are things going on recently that I won't talk about, but everybody did not embrace me during those times, and Berean has continued to embrace me."

While Willis did not directly address the outstanding disqualification ruling involving Trump's case, she did speak about a "lesson" that she has learned through passages of the Bible that have been sent to her recently.

"The scripture they keep sending me is, 'No weapon formed against you shall prosper,'" Willis told the crowd, which applauded in response.

"I need y'all to hear me, though," she continued. "They didn't say the weapons will not form. And that's the part I didn't hear until recently. Just because they won't prosper, it doesn't mean that they won't form. Even if you feel like everything you are doing in your life is the right thing and you are making mistakes all along the way, but you're trying, you should not think that those weapons will not form."

Newsweek reached out to Willis' office via email for further comment.

McAfee is expected to issue a ruling on efforts to disqualify Willis and Wade in the coming weeks, although many legal experts already predict that Roman's motion will not be granted.

"Fani Willis made a terrible decision to date Nathan Wade, and that may bring ethics issues for her, but her testimony dispelled any kickback scheme that would disqualify her," former U.S. attorney Barbara McQuade wrote in a post to X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday. "Nothing about this affects the fair trial rights of Trump and co-defendants."

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Kaitlin Lewis is a Newsweek reporter on the Night Team based in Boston, Massachusetts. Her focus is reporting on national ... Read more

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