Fani Willis disqualified from Trump criminal case. Now what?

| 2:25 pm EST December 19, 2024
Dear Palmer Report readers, we all understand what a dark era we're heading into. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. Advertising networks can't be counted on. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight, because someone has to.

In that regard we're funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens. We've launched a reader supported fund, and we've already raised $3760 and counting. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can contribute here. Thank you in advance.
Sincerely,
Bill Palmer
Palmer Report

If we’d gotten about one percent more of the vote in the deciding swing states, Donald Trump would be going to prison for the rest of his life. But the cold hard reality is that after the media sabotaged the whole thing from start to finish, we narrowly lost the election. This dealt a body blow to the criminal cases against him. Now we’re seeing the fallout from that.

Jack Smith has already shut down his DOJ criminal cases against Trump, with the sole silver lining being that they could theoretically be reinstated if and when Trump is no longer in office. But given how badly his health appears to be declining, the odds of him still being around in four years are probably low. And while the judge in the New York criminal case could still hand Trump a prison sentence for his 34 felony convictions, there’s no way Trump would serve such a prison sentence until he’s out of office. Again, it’s highly doubtful that his poor health will still have him among the living in four years.

The biggest variable remains the criminal case against Trump in Georgia. The trial hasn’t happened yet, and is still theoretically on track to happen in 2025. How practical would it be to put the President of the United States on criminal trial, given that the courts might not even force him to attend, and that any prison sentence wouldn’t be enforceable while he’s in office? I have no idea. But we might end up finding out.

Given that Fani Willis is the biggest remaining legal threat to Trump, a Georgia appeals court decided to remove Willis from the Trump case today. This has been widely interpreted as an attempt at protecting Trump. But I’m not sure I see it that way. If they wanted to actually help Trump, they’d have thrown out the case against Trump. Instead they’ve merely set it up so that one of Willis’ subordinates will have to lead the case – a scenario that Willis has surely been planning for all along.

This feels like yet another scenario of Republican officials kissing up to Trump by giving him what he wants, whether it actually helps him or not. At this point, the Fulton County criminal case against Trump might be able to proceed more smoothly and efficiently without Willis attached to it. We’ll see.

There is also the possibility that Willis will be reinstated to the Trump case on further appeal. In such case today’s ruling would truly be nothing but a symbolic “victory” for Trump that doesn’t actually help him.

The bottom line? I wouldn’t classify this as good news (it’s yet another improper judicial overreach by Republicans, which is never good). But I’m not sure it’s bad news either. If Georgia Republicans thought they could get away with it, they’d have thrown out the case entirely. The fact that they didn’t do that means something. We’ll find out what it means soon enough.

Dear Palmer Report readers, we all understand what a dark era we're heading into. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. Advertising networks can't be counted on. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight, because someone has to.

In that regard we're funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens. We've launched a reader supported fund, and we've already raised $3760 and counting. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can contribute here. Thank you in advance.
Sincerely,
Bill Palmer
Palmer Report