MSNBC’s Symone Rips Disrespect For Trump Election Crimes Prosecutor: ‘Fani Willis Knows What She’s Doing’

MSNBC host Symone Sanders-Townsend decried the “second-guessing” of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis over her prosecution of ex-President Donald Trump on election crimes in Georgia.

Much of the commentary on the latest indictment of Trump on 13 counts related to election crimes — particularly from Republicans and their allies, but also others — has centered around skepticism of the sprawl of the case DA Willis has brought and the legal theory that underpins it.

On Saturday’s edition of MSNBC’s Symone, the host pushed back on the critics and called for a little respect to be placed on DA Willis and her record of achievement:

Fulton County D.A. Fani Willis is facing pressure from House Republicans and even second-guessing judge — judges second-guessing her in her own state. But I think her record makes it clear that she does know what she’s doing. In a letter this week, D.A. Willis gave a sharper retort to House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan after he demanded that she turn over all documents related to her election interference case against Donald Trump and the 18 other people indicted by a grand jury in Georgia last month.

Willis wrote, quote, “Your job description, as a legislator, does not include criminal law enforcement, nor does it include supervising a specific criminal trial because you believe that doing so will promote your partisan political objective.” She goes on to say, “Your letter makes clear that you lack a basic understanding of the law, its practice, and the ethical obligations of attorneys generally and prosecutors specifically.”

Well, this comes after Judge Scott McAfee, who is presiding over the Georgia case, said that he was, quote, “very skeptical” of Fani Willis’s plan to put all 19 defendants on trial next month. It seems to me that Judge McAfee and Congressman Jim Jordan and other critics have forgotten who D.A. Willis is, and what exactly she has accomplished in her time in office. So, allow me a moment to remind folks of her track record.

In her almost 20 years as a prosecutor, Fani Willis has led more than a hundred jury trials. She is an expert in RICO cases. And, don’t forget, she prosecuted one of Georgia’s largest criminal cases involving a cheating scandal in the Atlanta Public School System. In fact, since becoming chief prosecutor, Willis’s office has — Willis’s conviction rate for the D.A.’s office has stood close to 90 percent. The conviction rates matter, because prosecutors only bring cases they believe that they can win, so they say.

So, look, why are folks then saying that Fani Willis is in over her head or she is biting off more than she can chew? And why the Special Counsel Jack Smith escape any scrutiny for his strategy? He also is bringing a case against the former president. He seemed to avoid the same level of scrutiny. Many folks just took Jack Smith at his word that he knew what he was doing.

The reality is, is Fani Willis is not new to this. Some would say she’s true to this. So, where is the confidence and the respect that she has earned? Well, it may never come, but one thing I’m sure of, District Attorney Fani Willis in Fulton County? I think she knows what she’s doing.

Watch above via MSNBC’s Symone.

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