ATLANTA — A highly-anticipated hearing on motions to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade from the Georgia 2020 election RICO case commenced on Thursday -- and the anticipation for Day 2 might be even higher.
DA Willis made a surprise appearance herself at the proceedings on Thursday, and in an even more surprising turn took the stand when she was called.
More testimony from Willis is expected on Friday, but the most salient question looming over everything remains: Will we actually see Judge Scott McAfee issue a ruling on the disqualification matter?
Here's what he said in court on that yesterday.
Will judge rule today on Fani Willis disqualification motions?
The short answer is no. Judge McAfee was very explicit in this on Thursday.
While taking up a clerical matter with attorneys, he noted: "That's also not something we need to have done by tomorrow -- I'm not ruling on any of this tomorrow. This is something that's gonna be taken under advisement on all aspects."
In fact, Judge McAfee hinted that the hearing itself is unlikely to be completed by Friday.
"And we may need to bring everyone back," he said. "If everyone just wants to be heard in argument in some way, we're probably not gonna have time for that tomorrow either."
He said it was his goal to "just close the evidence tomorrow and we can take it from there." He added he doubted court would reach arguments "if the state has 4-5 hours of witnesses."
So buckle up -- this is far from over.