George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said Thursday that Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney recently did damage to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in her 2020 election interference case against President-elect Donald Trump.
McBurney on Monday mandated Willis hand over any communications records she has with special counsel Jack Smith and the House January 6 Select Committee within five business days, according to a court order. Turley, on “The Faulkner Focus,” said the case has numerous issues and that McBurney’s order was a “fairly large blow to Willis.” (RELATED: CNN’s Elie Honig Says Suggestion Of Pushing Trump’s Sentence to After He’s President Is ‘Preposterous’)
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“This entire case is leaking like a sieve. And it always has because it was based on, in my view, a ridiculous RICO [Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations] theory to get to the president,” Turley said. “There are some crimes in this case, I think they’re relatively minor, against some defendants, like unauthorized access, but to get the president, they had to create this real Rube Goldberg type of racketeering theory that I don’t think will hold up upon review. And on top of that, you have Willis’ own conduct and whether she should be removed from the case.”
“So it’s a big debate as to what will bring the case down, but there are a lot of possibilities here. Now, the fact is that courts tended to try to leave these to juries, leave these to fact finders and so Willis knows she has an advantage,” he continued. “But just keep in mind that this entire case is teetering in my view legally. And I just can’t see even if she was able to secure a conviction that she would be able to sustain it on appeal. But I don’t believe the case should go to jury. I don’t think it should go to trial. I think it’s a laughable case against the former president.”
Host Martha MacCallum asked Turley for his opinion of Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee, prompting the law professor to not discuss McBurney’s order.
“He has shown, I think, a fair degree of balance here,” Turley added, appearing to reference McAfee. “I’ve had a lot of respect for some of the decisions he’s reached. So I have no objection to him as a judge. My objection is the underlying case.”
Trump’s attorneys requested that the state of Georgia dismiss Willis’ indictment against him in a Wednesday filing. Willis charged Trump, along with 18 others, in August 2023 for breaching its RICO Act by allegedly attempting to reverse the state’s 2020 election outcome.
The president-elect’s attorneys argued that maintaining the case is unconstitutional and “lacks jurisdiction” as presidents are “completely immune” from state or federal indictments while in office.
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