Donald Trump and the 18 other defendants in Georgia
Who is the toughest prosecutor Donald Trump will face in the four criminal cases against him? According to longtime Alabama attorney and criminal-defense expert Donald Watkins, the answer is Fulton County, GA, district attorney Fani Willis -- and it's not a close call. In fact, Watkins says the Georgia charges will be the most difficult ones for Trump to beat -- because of Willis' talent and tenacity, along with other factors.
Under the headline "The Fani T. Willis Roundup!" Watkins writes:
Above are the world's best-known criminal defendants today, courtesy of Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani T. Willis. She brought them all together in one case. Over the next few months and years, they will get to know each other very well.
State of Georgia v. Donald John Trump, et. al., will be the most watched RICO trial in U.S. history.
As a retired criminal-defense lawyer, who holds the U.S. record for defeating the most felony counts (85) in a single-defendant criminal case (U.S. v. Richard M. Scrushy), I plan to sit back and enjoy watching the televised legal battles between Fani T. Willis and these 19 criminal defendants in a Fulton County courtroom (a/k/a the "gladiator pit").
Fani T. Willis
What makes a tough prosecutor? Watkins has almost 50 years of experience on the front lines in criminal cases, and he knows the kind of prosecutors he did not want to see on the other side, writing:
I have met and defeated plenty of good prosecutors in the gladiator pit during my 48 years as a criminal defense attorney. The best and toughest ones were smart, well prepared, experienced, courageous, and female.
Of the three prosecutors in Donald Trump's four criminal cases, Fani T. Willis poses the greatest threat to his freedom. Willis is the best and most prepared prosecutor I have seen in my entire legal career. She is smart, strategic, focused, courageous, and highly experienced. Every fiber of her body exudes confidence in her ability to fight in the gladiator pit.
Of the other prosecutors in Trump cases, Watkins gives poor to mixed reviews, As for Jack Smith, who heads the prosecution team for the classified-documents case in Florida and the election-interference case in Washington, D.C. Watkins has interacted with Smith in a highly publicized Alabama gaming case and came away unimpressed:
I have personally interacted with Special Counsel Jack Smith on behalf of my client Milton McGregor, and I was not impressed with him. Smith lost on all of the 39 felony counts his prosecution team tried in U.S. v. Milton McGregor (2010 to 2011), a criminal conspiracy and bribery case.
I published an article about my personal experiences with Jack Smith in McGregor's case. He is a highly overrated federal prosecutor.
If Smith litigated cases as a defense attorney, as opposed to a prosecutor in what Trump calls the "rigged" federal criminal justice system, he would get his ass kicked all day long.
From what I have seen to date, none of the defense attorneys in Donald Trump's Miami or Washington, D.C., federal criminal cases has the skills, experience, and ability to kick Jack Smith's ass.
The prosecutor in U.S. v. Richard Scrushy was Alice Martin, former U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama. She left a strong impression on Watkins, and it sounds like he would prefer not to have to do courtroom battle with her again:
It took everything I had in me as a gladiator to battle U.S. Attorney Alice Martin and win on all 85 felony counts in former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy's fraud case (2003 to 2005). Alice Martin and I fought each other in Scrushy’s case for two very long years. I was totally exhausted at the end of Scrushy's case, and I never wanted to fight Alice Martin again.
To this day, I respect and admire Alice Martin as one of the smartest and toughest federal prosecutors in America.
Unlike most prosecutors, Alice Martin actually led her troops into battle and bled with them on the battlefield. She actively participated in the pre-trial hearings and examined witnesses during the six-month trial. She directed the government’s litigation strategies and in-court battles, from start to finish. She was a fierce, skilled, smart, and well-trained adversary.Fani T. Willis embodies much of Alice Martin's tough, aggressive, participatory spirit and approach in Trump's criminal case.
The big question of the moment: Will Fani T. Willis win Trump's case? Here is Donald Watkins' answer:
Today, I do not know of any criminal defense lawyer who has the knowledge, skills, ability, and experience to beat Fani T. Willis in her RICO case against Trump. Willis is the real deal. She is a gladiator of the first order.
The defense lawyers hired in this RICO case thus far do not have a chance of beating Willis. They simply lack the skills and experience required to compete with Fani Willis, and win. Willis is in a league of her own.
There is going to be a bloodbath in the Fulton County gladiator pit, but Fani T. Willis will not be the gladiator who bleeds out.
Based upon my professional training and experience in the gladiator pit, I already know who will win this courtroom fight -- Fani T. Willis!