Althouse: "The Bradley testimony was grinding but telling.... Repeating 'I speculated' was an inartful and unconvincing evasion."

February 28, 2024

"The Bradley testimony was grinding but telling.... Repeating 'I speculated' was an inartful and unconvincing evasion."

"What remains is his text, which was sent before he was under all of this coercive pressure. What is clear is that the county attorneys were clearly wrong in accusing opposing counsel of filing a baseless and unethical motion. There was obviously a good-faith basis to have raised the allegation. The question remains how the judge uses his record on the issue of disqualification. Once again, I fail to understand why these two prosecutors have not removed themselves, particularly Wade. These are hits below the waterline. I do not see how this is helping them, let alone their case or their office."

Tweets Jonathan Turley.

56 comments:

rhhardin said...: They're black. No responsibility.; 2/28/24, 6:54 AM
tim in vermont said...: "If you can get a man to believe an absurdity, you can make him commit an atrocity." - Voltaire

Prosecuting a man because of your invidious interpretation of the word "find" is Kafkaesque. Are we to believe that nobody on either side during Bush v Gore ever said that they needed to "find" votes? They searched for them high and low. It's more than "reasonable doubt" to think that this is how Trump meant it, it's the likeliest explanation.; 2/28/24, 6:57 AM
RideSpaceMountain said...: "These are hits below the waterline. I do not see how this is helping them, let alone their case or their office."

They would be if America's ship of justice was subject to the laws of physics. They're not anymore. This is specialty black spottemgottem bizarro law now. The rules don't apply.

The ghetto cash-stashing gangstar black female DA with a massive chip on her shoulder and an ego the size of Mars mustn't be made to feel bad. It is contagious to the black community.; 2/28/24, 6:59 AM
tim in vermont said...: It's almost like the whole trial is based on an eggcorn.; 2/28/24, 7:01 AM
Left Bank of the Charles said...: This hearing is great entertainment, but what again is the actual prejudice to the defense? Still flimsy to nonexistent, no matter when the relationship began.; 2/28/24, 7:04 AM
Old and slow said...: Were they really "wrong in accusing opposing counsel of filing a baseless and unethical motion."? Or were they dishonest in making this accusation? This seems like a meaningful distinction.; 2/28/24, 7:28 AM
Leland said...: I suspect Althouse posted the quote as she did because she agrees generally with it. Whether she does or not, I agree with it.

If you were an ethical DA really wanting to bring down the most criminal President in our nations history with an accusation of racketeering, then you would have lined up a long list of highly ethical people ready for the good fight. At best, Willis lined up a married coworker whom she later had an affair, and then the coworker hired a rather pathetic and conflicted ethically counsel to be his defense attorney. These people look like goobers in any situation, yet this is the team that will bring down a racketeering former White House? The only ones buying these clowns are sycophants. That is not to ignore the high possibility the judge is one of them.; 2/28/24, 7:37 AM
Iman said...: A church that allows this woman to use it to openly lie, play the race card while she pleads her case isn’t much of a church.; 2/28/24, 7:40 AM
Iman said...: I’d has a sad about all of this if the folks involved weren’t such blatant, transparent imbeciles.; 2/28/24, 7:46 AM
tim in vermont said...: "his hearing is great entertainment, but what again is the actual prejudice to the defense?"

If the case is so strong, why does it have to be these exact people who bring it, people who have lied to the court? People who, under normal circumstances, would be disqualified and disbarred?; 2/28/24, 7:47 AM
Yancey Ward said...: Willis and Wade have committed open perjury in these hearings. Someone at the state AG's office needs to indict both of them after this particular judge issues his ruling (likely claiming the allegations are unproven).; 2/28/24, 7:56 AM
tim in vermont said...: 54% of Americans surveyed said they'd vote for Trump IF he's convicted of inciting the "Capitol riots" on Jan. 6th and still you're blackpilling? - Raw Egg Nationalist

Everybody knows these trials are show trials, more worthy of the U of SSR than the US of A.; 2/28/24, 8:12 AM
Aggie said...: They're not letting go of it because the White House - where Fani had those meetings - is invested. Now they can't afford to let go of the tiger's tail.

I see some of the usual suspects have no problem with elected prosecutors lying under oath, as long as they're the right lies - from the right prosecutors.; 2/28/24, 8:17 AM
Wince said...: Turley said...
Once again, I fail to understand why these two prosecutors have not removed themselves, particularly Wade.

Maybe because the soap opera distracts from the real story?

Now, sources have since come forward to reveal that the Biden administration allegedly placed a Democrat operative into Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis's office with the specific goal of targeting former President Donald Trump.

"One significant figure is overlooked in the Fulton County scandal concerning Fulton County prosecutor Fani Willis and her alleged lover and fellow prosecutor Nathan Wade, the sources said: Meet Jeff DiSantis — the county’s Deputy District Attorney with professional experience far greater than the average county employee," reports Wendell Husebø of Breitbart. "DiSantis worked on Willis’s 2020 campaign, sources told Breitbart News, and was the former Executive Director of the Democrat Party of Georgia with extensive knowledge of campaign finance law."

According to his official bio on the Fulton County website, DiSantis "worked for candidates in 30 states running for a variety of offices, including President of the United States, United States Senator, Governor, United States Representative, Attorney General, District Attorney, and Mayor, as well as for a national political party committee. He has served as a campaign manager, media consultant, pollster, press spokesman, research director, and policy advisor."

The sources say it was Jeff DiSantis who was directly colluding with the White House to target Trump. "DiSantis did this," a source said. “He’s the one. He is the one pulling all the strings. He was the one that walled her [Willis] off. He was in every important meeting. He is the brainchild behind this. That is the connection to the White House.”

Citing his extensive history and ties to the Georgia Democratic Party machine, the sources told Breitbart they were "one hundred percent" certain DiSantis was a Biden administration plant. "DiSantis is the one pulling the strings on this whole thing. Everybody heard Fani testify. It's no secret that she's not smart. That is how she sounds and acts every day of the week."

Related: Fani Willis Offers Pathetic Response to Cellphone Data That Proved She Lied in Court

“Anyone that has common sense knows that the White House has been involved in this prosecution,” a source explained. “This shouldn’t just miraculously happen. Of course, she’s [Willis] not going to prosecute the former president [of the] United States without the current administration’s approval.”

Jeff DiSantis allegedly played a pivotal role in the selection of grand jurors for the Trump case, with sources pointing to the use of voter registration data as a potential influencing factor.

“Part of why you’re raising money as a candidate is to get money to buy the data about who are your voters. DiSantis, as the former head of the state Democratic Party, he’s going to know you know [the data] in Georgia,” one source told Breitbart. “There’s not one conservative person on that grand jury.”

The sources added that DiSantis played a role on Willis's transition team following her November 2020 election victory, and assisted Willis's lover, Nathan Wade, in the selection of personnel for his newly established office.; 2/28/24, 8:21 AM
RideSpaceMountain said...: "A church that allows this woman to use it to openly lie, play the race card while she pleads her case isn’t much of a church."

That applies to quite a lot of black churches. In the South half of them are money-laundering operations when they're not fleecing their parishioners.; 2/28/24, 8:24 AM
Yancey Ward said...: "This hearing is great entertainment, but what again is the actual prejudice to the defense? Still flimsy to nonexistent, no matter when the relationship began."

So, let me get this straight, Left Bank. If Willis is financially benefitting from public funds being spent to prosecute someone, that isn't a source of bias? Really?; 2/28/24, 8:25 AM
Hassayamper said...: They’re hired hit men now, not public prosecutors.

Those who put them up to this are probably happy for the extra leverage over them. I’m sure they’ve been informed that the only way to escape charges themselves is to follow through with the persecution of Donald Trump.

It’s the same as the show trials of the Soviet Union. Every single prosecutor and judge knew that they were next on the chopping block if they failed to hang anyone Stalin or Beria identified as an enemy.; 2/28/24, 8:38 AM
Dude1394 said...: "Blogger rhhardin said...
They're black. No responsibility."

Yup. Even get awards at churches for being corrupt democrats.; 2/28/24, 8:51 AM
Amadeus 48 said...: Answer to Turley:

We will hold on to the power at all costs. We will deny everything. The burden is on the other side, and they cannot get us to admit anything. We don't remember. We didn't say it. You misunderstood us. We'll never resign. And the media are on our side. Anyone who acts against us is a racist. Just ask Whoopi and Sunny.

Note that Trump also does this to the extent he can.

We are not sending our best to Fulton County, GA.; 2/28/24, 8:53 AM
Gusty Winds said...: I would imagine being backed by the White House and DOJ they thought they could do whatever they wanted. Willis and Wade know there is a two tier justice system and there on the fun side.; 2/28/24, 8:59 AM
gspencer said...: "I speculated" has a tad more highfalutin-ness to it than "I misremember."

Maybe this bro got some white privilege lessons before testifying.; 2/28/24, 9:00 AM
planetgeo said...: Is Turley the only remaining openly honest, classic-liberal law professor in America? If there happen to be others, they sure are strategically quiet and/or cruelly neutral.; 2/28/24, 9:04 AM
Humperdink said...: Left bank asked: "This hearing is great entertainment, but what again is the actual prejudice to the defense?"

Does the term "perjury" set off alarm bells for you Mr. Bank? Having clearly perjured herself, the DA would be hard pressed to present anything in court.; 2/28/24, 9:09 AM
Sebastian said...: "I do not see how this is helping them"

As a CYA exercise, an attempt to salvage somehting of their careers, it might. Especially with a wet-noodle white judge.

"the case" was always intended to be nuisance lawfare; that is temporarily interrupted, but Dems won't let go. Of course, the proceedings expose the lying incompetents for what they are, but by that very fact confirm that Dem persecutors, starting in the White House and DOJ, will throw anything and anybody at Trump.; 2/28/24, 9:10 AM
Tom T. said...: what again is the actual prejudice to the defense?

The case wouldn't otherwise have been brought. Prosecutorial discretion is compromised if the prosecutor is using the case to funnel serious money to her boyfriend and getting kickbacks in the form of international vacations.; 2/28/24, 9:11 AM
Breezy said...: There’re articles out that claim the WH has installed at least two people in the GA DA team to run the show. If that’s the case, Willis and Wade have incentive (perhaps demands from the WH) to stick it out. If they’re disqualified, it’s not clear that any trials can happen before the spectre of election interference is unavoidable. That was the whole point - find Trump guilty of something before then. If that can’t happen, no need to keep on keeping on.

If they’re disqualified, do the prior plea deals get nixed in some way?; 2/28/24, 9:30 AM
Dogma and Pony Show said...: "This hearing is great entertainment, but what again is the actual prejudice to the defense? Still flimsy to nonexistent, no matter when the relationship began."

I think what you're missing is that a defendant has a constitutional right to a disinterested prosecutor. That's because DAs are supposed to be pursuing justice, not simply racking up as many convictions as they can from whichever cases they can. Prosecutors are of course supposed to seek convictions in cases that warrant it; but they're also supposed to REFRAIN from prosecuting a case if the facts and laws don't warrant it.

If a DA has some other, competing incentive to prosecute a particular case, then the defense is at risk that the decision to prosecute is not being made in a disinterested fashion, which, again, is a violation of due process.

Here, the evidence certainly points to the conclusion that Willis has a strong personal interest in prosecuting these defendants, separate and apart from any belief she may have that a conviction would actually advance the cause of justice. This prosecution has enabled her to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorney's fees to her own boyfriend, some of which he has in turn used to take her on expensive vacations.; 2/28/24, 9:59 AM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: The testimony was like watching the Godfather congressional hearing scene.; 2/28/24, 10:02 AM
Maynard said...: "Professional ethics" is just another vestige of White Supremacy.; 2/28/24, 10:23 AM
Jupiter said...: "I do not see how this is helping them"

$640,000.00; 2/28/24, 10:40 AM
Jupiter said...: "A church that allows this woman to use it to openly lie, play the race card while she pleads her case isn’t much of a church."

It's a Negro church. Now do you understand?; 2/28/24, 10:42 AM
Yancey Ward said...: "I think what you're missing is that......"

He ain't missing it, Dogma- he understands that if Willis and Wade are personally financially benefitting from this prosecution, then it is a corrupt process. Left Bank just thinks the means are justified by the ends in this case. Turn the politics around, and Left Bank would be singing the exact opposite tune.; 2/28/24, 10:45 AM
Left Bank of the Charles said...: How again is a boyfriend and girlfriend going on trips of the type and expense that people of their profession and income regularly take some kind of financial irregularity? The Bahamas, Aruba, Belize, Napa Valley - these are places frequented by American tourists. They spent a night in Miami before or after a cruise? Oh, the scandal!; 2/28/24, 10:46 AM
Leland said...: If they’re disqualified, do the prior plea deals get nixed in some way?

It didn’t work out for Gen. Flynn that way, but you might think it would have.; 2/28/24, 10:49 AM
PB said...: What to make of the private hour long meeting between the judge and Bradley? How is this even allowed?; 2/28/24, 10:49 AM
Joe Smith said...: How did the judge not recuse himself?

Why is a Biden DNC operative working in Willis' DA office?

Why did Willis and Wade visit the White House?

It's an op...prime election interference that moron lefties supposedly 'deplore.'; 2/28/24, 11:34 AM
n.n said...: Willis hoisted by her Fani. Karmic justice.; 2/28/24, 12:08 PM
Tina Trent said...: ThanK you, Wince. This is the real issue. The rest is a clown car.

But at least Georgians seeking a really, really bad divorce attorney now know where to go.; 2/28/24, 12:50 PM
Icepilot said...: Left Bank - Appointing a poorly qualified boyfriend & paying him $650k of the taxpayer's money, from a powerful position of special trust (& then lying about it) is not an ethical practice.
If you were in the sights of a District Attorney, would you want them to be ethical?; 2/28/24, 1:01 PM
Yancey Ward said...: "How again is a boyfriend and girlfriend going on trips of the type and expense that people of their profession and income"

An income derived from the prosecution of Trump, ya dummy.; 2/28/24, 1:06 PM
Yancey Ward said...: Note how Left Bank completely ignores the amount of money Wade has been paid by Willis' office. He isn't unaware of it, it is just inconvenient to notice it.; 2/28/24, 1:08 PM
Michael said...: There are hundreds of very qualified lawyers in Atlanta with a few dozen qualified to take on a complex RICO case. So she hires a divorce lawyer. Really no more evidence required. Just how did she come to choose a Cobb county attorney with zero experience. We know the why; 2/28/24, 1:37 PM
Leland said...: How again is a boyfriend and girlfriend going on trips of the type and expense that people of their profession and income regularly take some kind of financial irregularity?

Irregularity that you are glossing over is Wade's income comes from working for Willis, and it is not regular pay for a skilled RICO attorney. If that financial irregularity of pay includes kickback's to Willis in the form of trips, then she has more problems than just the Trump case. Yet, what really matters here is that Willis is claiming there were no kickbacks, which seems odd because Wade clearly paid on his credit card for the both of them. Her argument supporting the claim is she paid cash, but she has no proof to support this claim other than her word and that of Wade. If either of them could provide financial documents showing the regular transfer of funds from Willis to Wade, then this problem would go away.; 2/28/24, 1:49 PM
Goetz von Berlichingen said...: I'm with Left Bank on this. I just don't get why it makes a difference. So what that a DA brings charges against an individual (John Doe) then hires an under qualified attorney who also happens to be the DA's paramour and then pays that prosecutor/paramour at a very generous rate to prosecute Mr. Doe and only Mr. Doe? What purpose would it serve? Just because the prosecutor/paramour now has a high-paying, high-profile job doesn't necessarily mean he's kicking back money in some nefarious fashion. Y'all are just hatin' on black people who are in love!
Sure, they went on lavish vacations together. But Left Bank nails it when he writes: "How again is a boyfriend and girlfriend going on trips of the type and expense that people of their profession and income regularly take some kind of financial irregularity?"

That says it right there. You MAGAots act as if a corrupt DA used her prosecutorial powers to run a political hit on an opponent during an election year; has imported her lover and set him up in a high-paying publicly-funded position which she oversees; and has received kick-backs from said subordinate in the form of expensive vacations and gifts. What bull shit. Furthermore, you Trump-Humpers seem to think that a DA having a personal financial interest in a trial is a bad thing. It's not like she would hide, fabricate, alter, destroy, or purposely and knowingly misrepresent any evidence to keep the trial going because it is in her financial interest.

And don't get caught up in the nonsense about the affair and all the evidence showing that the DA and prosecutor have committed perjury. So what??!! Don't go inferring anything about their personal ethics and willingness to deceive the court. Who cares that they lied? It's just about sex. And anyway, they're black. It's not like they would know better.

I'm with you on this Left Bank

Goetz von Berlichingen; 2/28/24, 1:55 PM
William said...: They definitely did wrong and it looks like they've compounded the offense with perjury and suborning perjury. As with so many other Dem scandals, the biggest scandal is that it's not a bigger scandal. The news about their affair is curated on the news stations or ignored outright. So far as I know no prominent Dem has asked her to step down. I just don't see how you can try--albeit in a different jurisdiction--Trump for his hush money to Stormy Daniels and then proceed with the prosecutors on this case....Ditto with the prosecution for the compromised security files. It's just too flagrant and outright biased. I guess they can win with OJ juries, but you just can't piss this many people off without getting some kind of reaction. The Dems should back off.; 2/28/24, 2:38 PM
BUMBLE BEE said...: This is telling...
"Fani had her dress on backwards", the zipper and clasp was in front.

Body language specialists have at it.

https://pjmedia.com/victoria-taft/2024/02/27/heres-what-the-body-language-experts-say-about-fanis-performance-n4926825; 2/28/24, 3:35 PM
JK Brown said...: They are the equivalent to the M/V Rubymar, hit below the waterline, down by the stern, adrift and maybe dragging anchor across the submarine cables disrupting communications, likely unsalvageable and to sink beneath the surface.

Well, that's what's going on in the Red Sea for the last week or so since the Houthis got a good hit on a bulk cargo ship. And it looks like similar is happening in a Atlanta courtroom.; 2/28/24, 3:40 PM
Narayanan said...: tim in vermont said...
It's almost like the whole trial is based on an eggcorn.
=================
tim got me an Easter Egg

thanks for eggcorn /ĕg′kôrn″/
noun
A series of words that result from the misunderstanding of a word or phrase as some other word or phrase having a plausible explanation, as free reign for free rein, or to the manor born for to the manner born (from William Shakespeare's Hamlet).
An idiosyncratic but semantically motivated substitution of a word or phrase for a word or words that sound identical, or nearly so, at least in the dialect the speaker uses; 2/28/24, 4:23 PM
Narayanan said...: RideSpaceMountain said...

That applies to quite a lot of black churches. In the South half of them are money-laundering operations
======
Q: whence cometh the money? that they are laundering?; 2/28/24, 4:30 PM
RideSpaceMountain said...: "Q: whence cometh the money? that they are laundering?"

Shoeboxes. Under Fani's bed. Just a little cash when she buys groceries. $50 here. $50 there. that's smart. That's what her black panther dad told her to do. That's what he told the churches to do. That's what he told all black southerners to do.

Dude got around. I hear.; 2/28/24, 4:59 PM
Yancey Ward said...: The comment at 1:55 wins the internet for today.; 2/28/24, 5:00 PM
SweatBee said...: It's my non-professional understanding that if Wade and Willis were to be removed (by themselves or otherwise), then the defendants could move that the special grand jury Willis used was improperly convened.; 2/28/24, 6:51 PM
Iman said...: Having reviewed the text messages between Merchant and Terrence Bradley, Fani Willis and Nate Wade are TOAST!; 2/28/24, 7:09 PM
Iman said...: Left Bank loves that dirty water of the River Charles.; 2/28/24, 7:20 PM
Left Bank of the Charles said...: “Left Bank - Appointing a poorly qualified boyfriend & paying him $650k of the taxpayer's money, from a powerful position of special trust (& then lying about it) is not an ethical practice.
If you were in the sights of a District Attorney, would you want them to be ethical?”

If I’m in the sights of a DA, I’ll take the poorly qualified boyfriend.

On the subject of perjury, Fani Willis testified that they went out on lunch dates and such before she hired him. She’s not saying they started their relationship out of the blue.; 2/28/24, 10:00 PM
Nihimon said...: "I do not see how this is helping them..."

Really? Maybe you should be more skeptical. It seems clear to me that these people - and a whole host of others - are rushing headlong towards a new Reign of Terror in the name of Modernity, with a Totalitarian Dictatorship that will kill tens if not hundreds of millions of people for resisting the commands of the people with sticks, and it demoralizes their enemies if it's obvious they're unethical and corrupt and still win.; 2/29/24, 10:55 AM