Fani Willis, in an Appearance With Shaquille O’Neal, Says There Will Be No Leniency for Trump and Forecasts ‘Appropriate’ Prison Sentence

Shaquille “Shaq” O’Neal, a giant man who played basketball with balletic thunder, is known for his prowess on the hardwood, having been elected to the NBA Hall of Fame. Now, the district attorney of Fulton County, Fani Willis, could be attempting to replicate that success in the courtroom against President Trump. The prosecutor and the seven-footer appeared together at a charity event at Atlanta hosted by the district attorney. Ms. Willis took the opportunity to tell CNN that Mr. Trump would receive an “appropriate” sentence if she convicts him for racketeering and a battery of other charges related to alleged interference in the 2020 election.Ms. Willis expanded that she is of the opinion that “everyone in society is the same, and I don’t know why that’s such a difficult concept for people. You can look at the charges, and based on those charges, we’ll be recommending appropriate sentences. No one gets a special break because of their status.”Mr. Trump faces a maximum of 70 years in prison if he is convicted on all 13 charges handed up by Ms. Willis’s office. This is not the first time she has contemplated the case’s endgame. Last month, the district attorney allegedly wrote to the 45th president’s attorney that she and he would still be practicing law “long after these folks are in jail,” meaning Mr. Trump and his 14 co-defendants.Ms. Willis’s insistence that the book will be thrown at Mr. Trump despite his “status” telegraphs that she does not plan to relent should he secure the Republican presidential nomination or even return to the White House. Standing tall alongside Shaq, she explained that her case could take “a while” to conclude, adding that “the judicial process is a long process,” not one given to “instant gratification.”The district attorney has suggested an August 5 start date for Mr. Trump’s trial, and derided any chance that it could be moved due to the pendency of his candidacy as “silly.” This could put her on a collision course with Mr. Trump’s team, which has signaled that it will likely mount constitutional arguments should Georgia’s trial impinge on Mr. Trump’s pursuit of federal office.That question, which is at heart a dispute over federalism and the prerogatives of the federal government against the states, is likely to be heard eventually at the Supreme Court. The justices could choose to stay, or pause, Ms. Willis’s case during a potential second Trump administration. That would result in jury selection in 2029. Ms. Willis says she can be ready for trial within 30 days.The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Ms. Willis acknowledged that “I’m never going to see eye-to-eye with Shaq,” alluding to their height differential. The same, though, could be said of her and Mr. Trump, whose head does not scrape the clouds. Arrangements in the form of plea deals, though, have been reached with four of Mr. Trump’s co-defendants — Kenneth Chesebro, Jenna Ellis, Scott Hall, and Sidney Powell.Ms. Willis has said that hers is a “very serious case” and that “there are consequences to violating serious laws.” The Guardian reports that proffer deals — guilty pleas and testimony in exchange for not serving time behind bars — will not be available to Mr. Trump, Mayor Giuliani, or Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. All of them face prison time if convicted. If the White House is one possibility as a future residence for Mr. Trump, another is the notorious Fulton County Jail, where Mr. Trump visited when he was booked for arrest and where he would await transfer to a Georgia state prison were he found guilty and sentenced to hard time. The facility at Atlanta is under investigation by the Department of Justice over “credible allegations that an incarcerated person died covered in insects and filth” and that the “Fulton County Jail is structurally unsafe.”

Fani Willis, in an Appearance With Shaquille O’Neal, Says There Will Be No Leniency for Trump and Forecasts ‘Appropriate’ Prison Sentence

Fani Willis, in an Appearance With Shaquille O’Neal, Says There Will Be No Leniency for Trump and Forecasts ‘Appropriate’ Prison Sentence

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