MSNBC’s Cevallos: If There Is a Strong Appearance of Impropriety Both Wade and Fani Willis Will Likely Be Disqualified

SCARBOROUGH: “I’m wondering, Danny, your thoughts on this, if in fact, we find out that they were lying under oath about when their relationship began, do you think the judge is going to remove her from the trial?”
CEVALLOS: “Oh, I think that’s the least that would happen. Now think about it. The timeline is so critical, because if Fani Willis appointed Wade before, when they were having a relationship, then the defense really has a strong argument there that this was something that was a plum given to somebody that she was having a personal relationship with. And then furthermore, if they’ve deceived the court about when that relationship began, I think that’s a huge deal to represent to the court. Again, it’s the cover up that makes it worse than the underlying conduct. Because let’s take a step back. Dave Aronberg will tell you that in every state courthouse, particularly criminal courthouse in America, people are dating. Judges are dating cops, cops are dating public defenders, some of its in the open, a lot of it’s secret. That’s not what this motion is about. This isn’t a motion to dismiss because the prosecutors may have had a personal relationship. It’s a motion to dismiss because the theory is that if payments were made, if she appointed this special prosecutor, and was essentially getting what you could, I guess, qualify as a kickback in terms of he got paid, and then the money got paid back to Fani Willis, then you might have the appearance of impropriety. And those are the magic words here. Judge McAfee has already made reference to those magic words. In the rules of ethics and at disciplinary boards across the country those are the magic words. It’s not whether they did something that was misconduct, it’s instead whether it created the appearance of impropriety, because that is the standard by which attorneys are judged. That is the standard that safeguards the legal profession and causes the public to keep its trust in us. So look, not for whether or not there was an actual relationship or whether there was actual misconducts, Judge McAfee is going to be looking for whether there’s the appearance of impropriety. And if they deceive the court about that relationship that will bolster the argument that there’s the appearance of impropriety. Let me give you an example. There has been — the state has countered so far that hey, even if there was a relationship, when they went on trips, everybody paid Dutch. They looked at the bill, they pulled out their money, and no matter where they were, traveling, abroad, it doesn’t matter, they always paid for their own way. That seems like a little bit of a stretch to me. Maybe it’ll end up being completely true that every time they’re at a Chili’s, they look at the receipt, they divvy it up right down the middle, and nobody’s paying for it. The state funds are not going from the state to Wade and then back to Fani Willis. Maybe that’s the case. But if they’ve made that assertion, and if that also ends up not being true, that too will be a problem for Fani Willis, and Wade. I think that if there is a strong appearance of impropriety here, there’s a very strong likelihood that both, Wade and Fani Willis will be disqualified. And it’s Willis that really matters. If Wade gets disqualified someone else can step in. In fact, that’s been the subject of a lot of this litigation. In fact, in a very twilight zone moment, the defense essentially argued that Wade didn’t have sufficient experience. And you have this moment where the defense is essentially arguing, hey, the state should have gotten a better qualified prosecutor to prosecute us. And of course, this was pointed out in the papers. It’s — that’s a non issue. Wade’s lack of qualifications or alleged lack of qualifications, as Judge McAfee put it, if you’ve got a heartbeat and a bar card, you’re qualified to be a prosecutor as far as this motion goes. But again, go back to the appearance of impropriety, it’s what Judge McAfee is going to be looking for. It is the standard against which this conduct is judged.”