Fulton County DA Fani Willis says despite efforts to slow down Trump case, ‘the train is coming’

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on Saturday promised “the train is coming” for former President Donald Trump in his Georgia election interference case and said she was “not embarrassed” by months of court proceedings over her romantic relationship with a special prosecutor.

Throughout the more than two months of hearings and court proceedings on their relationship, Willis said her office has been hard at work preparing its case.

“While that was going on, we were writing responsive briefs, we were still doing the case in a way that it needed to be done. I don’t feel like we’ve been slowed down at all. I do think there are efforts to slow down this train, but the train is coming,” Willis told CNN at an Atlanta-area Easter basket giveaway.

“We’re not going to miss or skip a beat because of all the noise or distraction on one case. We’re going to continue to do our work,” the DA added.

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Willis also dismissed that having her personal relationship exposed to the country has damaged her reputation.

“I’m not embarrassed by anything I’ve done. I guess my greatest crime is I had a relationship with a man, but that’s not something I find embarrassing in any way. And I know that I have not done anything that’s illegal.”

A judge ruled earlier that month that Willis could continue prosecuting Trump and 14 co-defendants for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 election once her lover and former lead prosecutor Nathan Wade quit the case.

However she’s not completely in the clear yet after Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee on Wednesday granted him the right to appeal his ruling allowing Willis to stay on the case.

Trump and seven other co-defendants seeking to boot Willis did not have an automatic right to appeal before the start of a trial. However, McAfee granted the rare measure, citing the importance of the case. 

The appeal delays a trial from being scheduled, making it unlikely it would take place before the election in November. The DA’s office had originally requested an August trial, but it was never granted, she said.

“We may ask for that date again,” she told CNN, “but we do understand a case has to go through the steps and go through the process.”

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“I’m also realistic that one of the defendants has multiple cases going on and some of them have trial dates that are ahead of ours,” she added, referencing Trump’s numerous legal woes. “So, I’m always going to be respectful of sister jurisdictions.”

The relationship was first revealed by Trump co-defendant Mike Roman in a court filing that said the situation presented a conflict of interest and asked for Willis to be removed from the case.

Defense attorneys have claimed Willis hired Wade to profit from the Trump prosecution through their romantic relationship. McAfee ruled there wasn’t sufficient evidence to prove those claims but rebuked Willis for what he called a “tremendous lapse in judgment.”