“Long after these folks are in jail, we will still be practicing law.” Those, allegedly, are the words typed out in an email last week by the district attorney of Fulton County, Fani Willis, to a lawyer representing President Trump in his criminal trial in Georgia.

The remarkable prediction, first reported by the Guardian, lays bare Ms. Willis’s confident focus on convicting Mr. Trump and his camarilla, as well as the surprising intimacies of the legal profession, a guild unto itself. The message, though, sits uneasily with the presumption of innocence afforded to all criminal defendants under the Constitution.

The Guardian, relying on “two people with direct knowledge of the emails,” relates that the boast of prison came after Mr. Trump’s lawyer, Steven Sadow, complained that his side had received an incomplete transcript from Ms. Willis’s office, a possible default of the government’s constitutional obligation under the Brady rule to turn over evidence. 

“I’ve never practiced law by hiding the ball, I’ve enjoyed beating folks by making sure they have the entire file,” Ms. Willis reportedly wrote back. She also allegedly took umbrage with being addressed as a mere prosecutor, rather than as district attorney. “No one placed me here and I have earned this title,” she told Mr. Sadow. He, apparently not overwhelmed with fellow lawyerly feelings, wrote back, “Thank you for your email.”

Ms. Willis, in any event, was, placed in her position in 2020 by the voters of Fulton County. Alongside District Attorney Alvin Bragg of Manhattan and New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, Ms. Willis is one of three Democratic prosecutors who have brought cases against the 45th president.  

The contentious correspondence surfaces as the Guardian also reports that no plea deals to Mr. Trump, Mayor Giuliani, and the former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, will be forthcoming from Ms. Willis. These three are the central figures in her indictment, which charged 19 defendants with working to overturn the 2020 election. Four of that original group have pleaded guilty to lesser charges in exchange for evading prison.

The Sun spoke to an attorney, Harvey Silverglate, for another one of the defendants, the lawyer John Eastman, who confirmed that his client has “not specifically been offered a plea deal.” Mr. Silverglate, though, surmised that Ms. Willis’s office would be open to meet to discuss what are called “Queen for a Day” agreements, which trade immunity for testimony.   

Ms. Willis’s assertion that some “folks” will find themselves behind bars suggests that her interest in this kind of dealmaking is limited. Three of the lawyers who have come to accords — Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, and Kenneth Chesebro — could provide prosecutors with information on the legal dimensions of what the district attorney calls a “criminal conspiracy.” Another of those who plead, a bail bondsman named Scott Hall, appears to be a relatively minor figure.

The district attorney’s boast that she’ll be practicing law as those whom she is prosecuting will be behind bars comes as a battle appears to be brewing over the timing of her trial. Ms. Willis wants an August start date, which would likely stretch the trial into a hypothetical second Trump term, should he win. Mr. Trump appears likely to argue that such a juxtaposition would prevent him from executing the constitutional obligations of the presidency.

Mr. Sadow says that trying Mr. Trump if he is the Republican nominee — or the president — would amount to “election interference” of the worst kind. On Tuesday, Ms. Willis told CNN that such a claim is “ridiculous” because her office has been “conducting that investigation since 2021.”

A request for comment from Fulton County had not been responded to when this article went to print.