CNN’s Elie Honig held nothing back when he weighed in on the Georgia case against President Donald Trump and the fact that a judge had thrown out several of the charges Brough by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis: “It’s embarrassing for prosecutors.”
Honig shared his thoughts on the matter with CNN anchor Jim Acosta on Wednesday, and he noted that it was particularly embarrassing for Willis because the charges were being thrown out before her case even made it to trial.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee nixed six of the charges against Trump and his allies on Wednesday, saying in part, “As written, these six counts contain all the essential elements of the crimes but fail to allege sufficient detail regarding the nature of their commission, i.e., the underlying felony solicited. They do not give the Defendants enough information to prepare their defenses intelligently, as the Defendants could have violated the Constitutions and thus the statute in dozens, if not hundreds, of distinct ways.”
“I don’t think this ruling changes the type of evidence that the DA’s going to be able to introduce, but it does knock out some of the charges and look, it’s embarrassing for prosecutors. It’s a screwup by prosecutors when you bring a charge and then a judge throws it out before it even goes to trial,” Honig said in response.
“There have been several screwups, frankly, by the DA throughout the history of this case,” he continued. “Going back to the investigative phase, the DA got herself disqualified from a small piece of the case because she created a political conflict of interest. The judge who was overseeing the grand jury removed Fani Willis from the case. We’ve seen Fani Willis make public statements in the church and elsewhere that have now been called into question that I think violate the ethics of prosecutorial rules and now we’ve seen six of the charges thrown out of the case and unlike the conflict of interest issue, this does go to the charges against the defendant. This does go to the indictment itself.”
Honig, who has been very critical of Willis on several occasions, said that he did believe there was still a case to be prosecuted. Whether or not Willis will be the one to prosecute that case is still up in the air, but the answer to that question could come in the next several days.
“‘I plan to stick to my timeline,’ Judge Scott McAfee tells @JMOCNN today when asked if he is still on track to issue a ruling this week on whether to remove DA Fani Willis from Trump election case. This from a chance encounter w/ McAfee outside Atlanta courthouse on Wednesday,” CNN’s Zachary Cohen posted via X.
“I plan to stick to my timeline,” Judge Scott McAfee tells @JMOCNN today when asked if he is still on track to issue a ruling this week on whether to remove DA Fani Willis from Trump election case.
This from a chance encounter w/ McAfee outside Atlanta courthouse on Wednesday.
— Zachary Cohen (@ZcohenCNN) March 13, 2024