ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
A year ago, President Trump was fighting 13 felony counts in Georgia for trying to overturn the 2020 election, and the district attorney who charged him was seen as a rising star. Now Trump is president again, immune from prosecution for the next four years, and Fulton County Prosecutor Fani Willis has been rebuked by the courts and is fighting to keep the case alive. WABE's Sam Gringlas reports from Atlanta.
SAM GRINGLAS, BYLINE: Donald Trump and Fani Willis began their second terms in office just a few weeks apart.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
FANI WILLIS: I, Fani Taifa Willis, do swear and affirm...
GRINGLAS: To celebrate, the district attorney hosted an inaugural gala. The dress code - black, pink and gold.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Singing) Lift every voice and sing.
GRINGLAS: Four years ago, Willis was elected the county's first female DA. She became known for high-profile racketeering cases, indicting defendants like Trump and rapper Young Thug. But both of those cases became mired in drama. At the gala, Willis expressed no regrets.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
WILLIS: In my first four years in office, I learned a really hard lesson. Folks are here for you during the good times, but the slightest bit of wind, and folks quickly begin to fall to the wayside.
GRINGLAS: Last January, a Trump co-defendant lodged a serious allegation that the DA was involved in a romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she hired for the case. He ultimately resigned, but in December, the Georgia Court of Appeals ruled that Willis and her office should still be removed from the case. Trump praised the decision. On stage, and with Nathan Wade seated at her table, Willis excoriated it.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
WILLIS: See, there are judges in my very state, [expletive] in my very courthouse, that are more interested in their next appointment than upholding the rule of law and following their oath.
GRINGLAS: Willis did not shy away from slamming Trump - just not by name - and closed asking the audience what they were willing to sacrifice in pursuit of justice.
Georgia State University law professor Anthony Michael Kreis.
ANTHONY MICHAEL KREIS: There's a lot of room for redemption here, but this case is much more on life support than it's ever been before.
GRINGLAS: Kreis says Trump had almost no chance of going to trial last year, no matter what Willis did, once the U.S. Supreme Court established broad presidential immunity. Trump's 14 remaining co-defendants could still see trial in the next few years, but if Willis is disqualified for good by the Georgia Supreme Court, Kreis says it's unlikely anyone will be appointed to take over.
KREIS: If Fani Willis is removed and none of the co-defendants are ever brought to trial, I think this will be a real mark of shame.
GRINGLAS: Many Republicans have praised the prosecution's unraveling as a triumph for justice. And Georgia GOP lawmakers are continuing their own investigation into Willis.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
GRINGLAS: But at a farmers market in a liberal Atlanta neighborhood, Wendy Cooper says she feels empathy for the DA.
WENDY COOPER: As a Black woman living in America, this is to be expected - that powerful, smart, African-American women are really the target of a lot of hatred.
GRINGLAS: Cooper says even if Willis had pulled off a conviction, it probably wouldn't have mattered. Trump had already been found guilty on charges in New York.
COOPER: But did that have an impact on the election? No.
GRINGLAS: Atlanta residents Lorraine and Andy Ramey strongly disagree with the court removing Willis, but they also feel like she bungled the best shot to hold Trump responsible for his actions after 2020.
LORRAINE RAMEY: Because she knew better. I was hopeful, and then it slowly faded.
GRINGLAS: Last fall, Lorraine begrudgingly voted to keep Willis in office, but Andy...
ANDY RAMEY: No, I didn't vote for her this past November.
GRINGLAS: What'd you do? Leave it blank or...
A RAMEY: I did.
GRINGLAS: Andy Ramey says he's fed up with the justice system, fed up with how Willis handled such an important case and, most of all, fed up with a country that sent Trump back to the White House.
For NPR News, I'm Sam Gringlas in Atlanta. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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