Gov. Kemp Rejects State Republicans’ Effort To Oust Fani Willis
[guest post by Dana]
Georgia’s Republican Gov. Brian Kemp on Thursday rejected a plea from state Republicans to oust Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis following former President Donald Trump’s criminal indictment for election interference, marking a blow to Trump as he pleads not guilty to all charges.
In a press conference in Georgia, Kemp said he would refuse to hold a special session of the state legislature to remove Willis, who Trump has repeatedly called out in a series of tirades on his social media platform Truth Social, accusing her of being out to “get Trump.”
A large swath of prominent Republicans consistently react to efforts of accountability for the former president by attacking those responsible for the decision to investigate and prosecute him. Ultimately, and with few exceptions (see: Gov. Kemp) these Republicans reflexively continue to follow Trump’s lead in their capacity by echoing his eternal rallying cry: Witch Hunt!
Meanwhile, Trump wants to sever his Georgia case from Sydney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro, the only defendants who have requested speedy trials at this point in time:
Former President Donald Trump is seeking to sever his criminal election interference case in Georgia from any of his 18 co-defendants who are demanding that the case proceed quickly to trial, a Thursday court filing showed.
…
Trump earlier Thursday also waived his right to appear at his arraignment scheduled for next week.
“Respectfully, requiring less than two months preparation time to defend a 98-page indictment, charging 19 defendants, with 41 various charges including a RICO conspiracy charge with 161 Overt Acts, Solicitation of Violation of Oath by Public Officer, False Statements and Writings, Forgery, Influencing Witnesses, Computer Crimes, Conspiracy to Defraud the State, and other offenses would violate President Trump’s federal and state constitutional rights to a fair trial and due process of law,” Sadow wrote.
So far, I can’t locate a statement from Trump re Gov. Kemp’s decision this morning. However, after this many years of being entangled in Trump drama, pretty sure we already know what his reaction will be.
–Dana
Hello.
Dana (4020dd) — 8/31/2023 @ 11:50 amHe’s quite resolute. He’s quite good champion of the Rule of Law. Wish there were more that didn’t only champion it when it helped them.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 8/31/2023 @ 12:33 pmPartial transcript:
Full video
Kevin M (ed969f) — 8/31/2023 @ 12:36 pmI think Erickson and Kemp are simpatico on this.
Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 8/31/2023 @ 12:38 pmTrump is a man who has cut down all the laws for petty purposes and finds it hard to stand in the winds that blow now.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 8/31/2023 @ 1:07 pmNonsense reporting:
Some news outlets are saying that Trump is seeking to separate his case from all those that seek a speedy trial. OF course he is, and it will be granted. The DA is only asking that those seeking a speedy trial (October 23rd) be tried together.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 8/31/2023 @ 1:12 pmI suppose that Trump is trying to portray his pro forma request as adversarial to show the masses that he’s winning some.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 8/31/2023 @ 1:13 pmNot quite all the winds. From the Weekend Open Thread:
From the poll:
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 8/31/2023 @ 1:47 pm“We are now seeing what happens when prosecutors move forward with highly charged indictments and trials in the middle of an election”
Looking back, I hope that Senate Republicans see that running out the clock on impeachment was the wrong play. Yes, Trump remains inscrutably popular, but the bill is coming due. His electability with moderates and independents in swing states will continue to suffer as the court cases push forward. This is bad news for down-ticket Republicans. Yes, Biden will remain unpopular but non-partisans will choose the guy that didn’t help start a riot and siege of the Capitol. As much as many want to frame Biden as a super-villain selling influence, he doesn’t threaten the integrity of the system. If he can replace Harris without creating a rift in the party, he becomes even more palatable to non-partisans.
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 8/31/2023 @ 1:47 pmWhat does it benefit a man to win all the polls, only to lose his freedom?
Kevin M (ed969f) — 8/31/2023 @ 2:16 pmAJ,
It should not have taken 3 years to bring these indictments. Merrick Garland is especially culpable here, but Fani Willis gollumed her case to death, too.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 8/31/2023 @ 2:18 pmTrue. I won’t speak for Willis, but things didn’t accelerate on the federal level until the FBI searched Mar-A-Lago an overt criminal act. My theory is that Garland wasn’t going to do anything criminally, but Trump forced the AG’s hand on the classified documents and pretty had to appoint a Special Counsel.
Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 8/31/2023 @ 2:24 pm…searched Mar-A-Lago and found an overt criminal act.
Paul Montagu (d52d7d) — 8/31/2023 @ 2:24 pmHow biblical.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 8/31/2023 @ 2:39 pmTrump ain’t got nothing that Kemp needs or wants, and his relative position in Georgia polls matters only to the other carpetbaggers.
nk (a19966) — 8/31/2023 @ 2:54 pmTrump ain’t got nothing that Kemp needs or wants
And that infuriates Trump. But what doesn’t?
Kevin M (ed969f) — 8/31/2023 @ 2:59 pmTrump could sew up the Republican nomination while on trial for election subversion:
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 8/31/2023 @ 3:01 pmThe default is all defendants get tried together. Any defendant in Georgia has an absolute right to a speedy trial.
Trump cannot be forced to go along with that schedule but he and others may have to formally waive his right to a speedy trial
John Eastman was also considering asking for a speedy trial. He may have already.
NYT Aug 26/7
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/26/us/trump-georgia-trial.html
The trial will begin on October 23, and will have cameras. Fani Willis will have to decide how much of a preview the other defendants get. I would guess some matters would be ruled irrelevant to them.
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 8/31/2023 @ 3:05 pmTrump was interviewed on the radio today by Jay Sekulow, substituting for Sean Hannity and I think was referring to this case when he said it was in Florida. (he was saying the local district attorneys who brought cases against him were acting in conjunction with Biden. The other case he mentioned was Bragg’s, I think he had a senior moment here. Jay Sekulow either did not catch that – maybe he wasn’t paying close attention to Trump’s answers – or he did not correct him, but I think he just was not analyzing Trump’s answers for their truth value.)
I think he said that they just found out they would get the interview 1 minutes before.
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 8/31/2023 @ 3:12 pmHell hath no fury like politician scorned. Revenge is a dish best eaten cold. Kemp vs trumpsters as stacy abrams smiles to quote dcsca. (hope I got the letters right)
asset (e41ee0) — 8/31/2023 @ 3:15 pmAJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 8/31/2023 @ 1:47 pm
I think Joe Biden is too much of a political coward to even attempt this.
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 8/31/2023 @ 3:23 pmFDR was a coward, too, in 1944, but in his case, there were independent “bosses” who aimed to replace Henry A. Wallace. And probably not because they felt he would harm FDR’s re-election chances, which I never read, but probably, secretly, for the country. I don’t think anyone has ever gone into their motives in popular literature.
Revenge is a dish best eaten cold.
I’m pretty sure that is SERVED cold, as revenge is a dish that isn’t “best eaten” in any form.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 8/31/2023 @ 3:24 pmIf he can replace Harris without creating a rift in the party, he becomes even more palatable to non-partisans.
Maybe she can be appointed back to the Senate if Feinstein goes. Twofer.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 8/31/2023 @ 3:26 pmLOL! Been there, done that.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 8/31/2023 @ 3:30 pmAbout Biden being a political coward:
Look how he ignores New York, even refusing to meet with Governor Hochul, except for his administration pointing out that New York is spending several times the amount of money it needs to.
The Republicans’ goal is to “prove” that the United States cannot take in a relatively small number of of migrants so they’re not saying anything about that.
Stopping illegal immigration somehow – they never explain except to claim that Biden is inviting them in, maybe supposedly so they can help him Democrats win elections years from now – is more important to them than exposing extremely wasteful spending and possible Democratic corruption. They always want to strengthen the belief of their partisans in the party line, even to the point of speaking sheer nonsense and distorting language.
Of course they’re against permitting asylum seekers to work, (we only hear this from commentators like Curtis Sliwa or the New York Post’s Michael Goodwin – Republicans in Congress maintain strict radio silence on this matter) saying that that would incentivize more people to seek asylum.
Biden doesn’t want to do anything that could be characterized as pro-migrant – or anti-migrant, for that matter.
This is one of those cases where neither party makes honest arguments. truth.
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 8/31/2023 @ 3:32 pmIt’s not the middle of an election. Its’s really even before the beginning.
When would it not be the middle of an election? What time for a trial would not be sensitive? The first two years of Biden’s term?
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 8/31/2023 @ 3:34 pmKevin M (ed969f) — 8/31/2023 @ 3:26 pm
Why would she take the demotion?
The last person who quit as vice president to go into the Senate was John C. Calhoun.
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 8/31/2023 @ 3:36 pmThe only way Biden would ditch Kamala is by appointing her to replace Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court, and then only if she wanted the job. Loyalty means a different thing to him than it does to TOG (The Orange Grifter).
nk (a19966) — 8/31/2023 @ 3:45 pmTOG also equals The Other Guy
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 8/31/2023 @ 3:52 pmBiden doesn’t want to do anything that could be characterized as pro-migrant – or anti-migrant, for that matter.
Or neutral, either.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 8/31/2023 @ 3:55 pmMust See TV:
Trump doesn’t want to share the spotlight:
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 8/31/2023 @ 4:02 pmWhy would she take the demotion?
From a “window seat” to a position of actual power? Prince Harry has more power than she does now.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 8/31/2023 @ 4:05 pmIn an order issued Thursday, McAfee said members of the media would be allowed to use computers and cellphones inside the courtroom for non-recording purposes during court proceedings. There will be pool coverage for television, radio and still photography.
clack clack clack….
But I think this is correct. In this day and age, restricting coverage to 18th century methods is no an “open court.” This is one of the many things that needs to be addressed as far as rights are concerned, right along with cellphone tracking and data privacy. Or maybe “guns” should only mean muskets.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 8/31/2023 @ 4:11 pmLOL! What power does one out of 100 have? She will be Senator 100 on the seniority list.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 8/31/2023 @ 4:24 pmShe will be Senator 100 on the seniority list.
No, because that would be racist.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 8/31/2023 @ 4:25 pmLOL! What power does one out of 100 have?
Run that past Senator Manchin. Besides, with a budget of $5.8 trillion, that’s $58 billion apiece. As VP? She attends photo-ops.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 8/31/2023 @ 4:28 pmIf Kamala ever needed to wait on tables while waiting for the results of the bar exam, that day is long past. She doesn’t need any job unless it’s the job she wants.
I take back my suggestion of a Supreme Court appointment. She has a good chance to be President of the United States and no reason to settle for anything less.
nk (a19966) — 8/31/2023 @ 4:30 pmKH in her current job gets to travel on a full size military passenger jet (and other military aircraft), a taxpayer-supported residence with house staff, an armored limo, Secret Service protection, and use of White House recreational facilities (bowling alley, basketball court, restaurant, movie theater.) Why would anyone give that up for a job they have already done?
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 8/31/2023 @ 4:33 pmThe strongest argument for the plausibility of Biden dropping Harris is that I’d bet good money it won’t happen.
lurker (cd7cd4) — 8/31/2023 @ 4:37 pmI don’t doubt Biden would go to the mat for KH, but if she was nominated to the Supreme Court she would be first nominee to be outright rejected by the Senate since Bork in 1987. (Harriet Miers in 2005 and Merrick Garland don’t count as they withdrew or their nomination lapsed and weren’t outright rejected.)
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 8/31/2023 @ 4:40 pm@38: I dunno. Ask Donald Trump.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 8/31/2023 @ 4:40 pmAnd yet the “Inflation Reduction Act” passed.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 8/31/2023 @ 4:42 pmI take back my suggestion of a Supreme Court appointment. She has a good chance to be President of the United States
California sent her to the Senate to get her out of California. The VP job is fine — not a lot of things she can break — but POTUS or replacing Thomas? Sarah Palin is more qualified for either job.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 8/31/2023 @ 4:43 pmAnd as VP she can make or break legislation or nominations by being the tie breaking vote.
Kamala Harris Fantasy Camp.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 8/31/2023 @ 4:44 pmAnd yet the “Inflation Reduction Act” passed.
After Manchin got it renamed from the “Kill WV Coal Companies Act”
Kevin M (ed969f) — 8/31/2023 @ 4:44 pmKamala Harris Fantasy Camp.
Please, let’s not go there.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 8/31/2023 @ 4:44 pmIt all depends where you are at that point in history. KH has a better chance of being President than the Divine Sarah ever did.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 8/31/2023 @ 4:46 pmYou’re already there.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 8/31/2023 @ 4:46 pmNo matter what it’s named, he had the chance to kill it, and blinked.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 8/31/2023 @ 4:47 pmI’ve stumbled into some sort of Statler and Waldorf situation…I’ll wait until Open Thread
urbanleftbehind (9161e9) — 8/31/2023 @ 5:26 pmNo. She’s not.
Thanks for making me defend Kamala Harris, whom I despise, by comparing her to maybe the only major party POTUS or VP candidate in the last 30 years less qualified than she. (I’ll reserve judgment for now on precisely where the execrable John Edwards fits in that pecking order, other than to stipulate he’s somewhere in the Palin/Harris tier.)
lurker (cd7cd4) — 8/31/2023 @ 6:03 pmJohn Edwards is to MAGA as was Jesus to Islam. Would have at least evolved to RFK Jr POV by now.
urbanleftbehind (9161e9) — 8/31/2023 @ 6:37 pmI’ll take Sarah Palin of 2008 over Kamala Harris of 2020 as the more qualified VP candidate. I’m sad to see what Ms. Palin has become ever since her moment in the spotlight, but at the same time I acknowledge that she was brutally treated by the leftist establishment as well as by her own campaign which featured such nimrods as Steve Schmidt. But the Sarah Palin of 2008 had charisma and a common-sense conservatism with a soft populist touch (unlike Trump’s ugly bellowing) which contrasted perfectly with Obama’s establish elitism. I think she would have been fine as the number two under a seasoned vet like John McCain.
As for Ms. Harris, she’s always been a schemer who has parlayed her exotic background to positions well beyond her meager abilities. She ran a truly insipid Presidential campaign which put her gross incompetence and lack of seriousness on full display, and she didn’t even make it to Christmastime before having to drop out, despite having advantages which other candidates could only dream about, such as access to Hollywood and Silicon Valley fundraising muscle and a timid press who wouldn’t dare to question someone so high on the intersectionality rankings. And now she’s stuck with a blithering idiot as a boss, so she’s learning absolutely nothing about how to lead this great nation.
Yep, I’m Sarah Palin all the way in this question.
JVW (1ad43e) — 8/31/2023 @ 6:49 pmYou all sounds as though we have a choice. Between Kamala Harris and somebody else.
Sorry! Trump sunk that ship for us in 2020, and Kamala Harris is now one heartbeat away from the Presidency; and with each day that goes by her odds improve that she will be the President, if not before January 20, 2025 then not all that much later than that.
nk (f3877d) — 8/31/2023 @ 7:12 pmPalin was put in a tough position in 2008. I think she did the best she could and her acceptance speech was awesome. She just didn’t really have a second act to follow it with…and wasn’t prepped properly. McCain needed energy for his campaign and she provided it. But it was a weird and awkward match. McCain really didn’t have a chance to win in 2008, with war fatigue and the mortgage market collapse happening on Bush’s watch. I wonder if Palin’s family would have been more stable if she hadn’t been asked and accepted being the running mate. It was sad to see her marriage fall apart.
AJ_Liberty (2f1132) — 8/31/2023 @ 8:28 pmJVW (1ad43e) — 8/31/2023 @ 6:49 pm
Agree to disagree. Palin and Harris are both ignorant, Palin stubbornly so, and demeaning to the half of the country that supports their opponents. I believe those are important factors in a candidate’s qualifications, and IMO Palin is worse on both scores. In fact, other than being more likable, more telegenic, and better at performing a prepared speech, all political virtues I believe we overvalue to our detriment, I can’t think of a quality Palin has that gives me more confidence in her ability to lead than I have in Harris, and my confidence in Harris is zero.
lurker (cd7cd4) — 8/31/2023 @ 10:01 pmShe just didn’t really have a second act to follow it with…and wasn’t prepped properly
Whose fault the failure of preparation was is a matter of dispute. No doubt when a student gets an “F”, sometimes it’s on the teacher, but I believe that’s very much the exception. In this instance I find Schmidt and Nicole Wallace’s account more credible than Palin’s. Obviously YMMD.
lurker (cd7cd4) — 8/31/2023 @ 10:04 pmI haven’t looked at the data, but my recollection is that strictly as an electoral matter, yes, Palin was an asset, and also yes, McCain was leading in the polls until the bottom dropped out of the market.
lurker (cd7cd4) — 8/31/2023 @ 11:03 pmWorse, McCain was a boob on economics and in his rush back to DC to help after the crash, he proved it. If Romney had won the nomination in 2008 instead, he would have been the man of the hour.
As McCain was proving himself an idiot, Obama was visiting with billionaires, assuring them he would not let things get out of hand.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 8/31/2023 @ 11:09 pmNo. She’s not
That’s an assertion. Do you have reasons? Palin actually accomplished quite a lot as governor of Alaska. Harris has only accomplished bad things (like banning all modern handguns in California).
Kevin M (ed969f) — 8/31/2023 @ 11:12 pmPalin broke the good’ol’boy oil network in Alaska, getting the oil companies to may much more in extraction fees over the sweetheart deal they had before. She did it by beating an entrenched sitting governor of her own party.
Harris had every job she ever got handed to her as a reward.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 8/31/2023 @ 11:15 pmPalin’s job approval ratings as governor of Alaska:
May 15, 2007 93%
May 30, 2007 89%
Oct 20, 2007 83%
Apr 10, 2008 73%
May 17, 2008 69%
Jul 24, 2008 80%
Jul 30, 2008 64%
Sep 21, 2008 68%
Oct 07, 2008 63%
Mar 24, 2009 59.8%
May 04, 2009 54%
Jun 14, 2009 56%
It was better before she got the VP nomination, but never under 50%. Let’s compare that with Biden. Alaskans did not think she wasn’t up to the job. In the end it was incessant lawfare that got her — none of which was true.
She beat the entire GOP field with over 50% of the 5-way vote to get the GOP nomination for governor. The sitting governor (Senator Murkowski’s dad) got less than 20%.
This is not the mark of a boob. She may have been unsuited to DC, but that was part of her charm. And I really would like to see Kamala Harris answering the type of gotcha questions (“Who’s the President of Botswana?”) that the MSM threw at Palin. Further, when Joe Biden incorrected her on the Constitution (He said that Article I was not about Congress), not one line in any newspaper mentioned it.
Sarah Palin may have been thrown into the lions den, but she was never as lost as Ms Word Salad.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 8/31/2023 @ 11:28 pmand demeaning to the half of the country that supports their opponents.
Kamala Harris does not speak to Republicans.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 8/31/2023 @ 11:29 pm