The Excerpt podcast: Fani Willis fights push to remove her from Trump's Georgia case
On Friday's episode of The Excerpt podcast: Fani Willis fights the push to remove her from the Trump Georgia election fraud case. Paste BN Domestic Security Correspondent Josh Meyer reports. A former FBI informant has been indicted for lying about Joe and Hunter Biden's alleged business dealings. Police offer more details about the Super Bowl victory shooting in Kansas City. Black, female online gamers face rising abuse. Paste BN Sports National Correspondent Lindsay Schnell discusses the greatness of Caitlin Clark.
Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.
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Taylor Wilson:
Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson, and today is Friday, February 16th, 2024. This is The Excerpt. Today, what a dramatic Fani Willis hearing might mean for Trump's election fraud case in Georgia, plus a former FBI informant has been charged with lying over Hunter and Joe Biden business dealings, and we discussed the greatness of Iowa basketball star, Caitlin Clark.
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There were plenty of fireworks at yesterday's hearing over whether Fulton County district attorney, Fani Willis, should be disqualified from the Georgia election fraud case against former President Donald Trump and 14 others.
Fani Willis:
It's highly offensive when someone lies on you, and it's highly offensive when they try to implicate that you slept with somebody the first day you met with them, and I take exception to it.
Taylor Wilson:
Inside the court yesterday was USA Today domestic security correspondent, Josh Meyer. I caught up with him to put the hearing in context. Josh, thank you for hopping on The Excerpt today.
Josh Meyer:
My pleasure, Taylor.
Taylor Wilson:
Josh, let's just start here. Can you remind us what exactly is at issue in these election interference hearings this week?
Josh Meyer:
Fani Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, is fighting for her political life. She's also fighting for what is by far the biggest case of her career, which is the election interference case in which she initially indicted 19 people, including former President Donald Trump, in an alleged effort to criminally overthrow the results of the 2020 election and allow him to remain as president even though Joe Biden won the election. Four of those defendants have pled out, but 15 remain including Trump. So the lawyers for some of those defendants are trying to get Willis thrown off the case. They're trying to get her special prosecutor, Nathan Wade, thrown off the case because of an affair that the two had in recent years. They're also trying to disqualify the entire Fulton County DA's office and have the case dismissed because of what they say are improper personal relationships between Wade and Willis.
Taylor Wilson:
Josh, you were there in the Atlanta courtroom yesterday. Fani Willis herself ended up testifying. We also heard from Nathan Wade. What was the scene like, and what did we learn from these testimonies?
Josh Meyer:
There was a lot of fireworks. Wade was pretty calm and low key. Answered questions in a very lawyer-like way, as one legal observer put it. But Willis came in loaded for bear. She marched into the courtroom or, she said, ran into the courtroom. Despite efforts by her lawyers and the Fulton County District Attorney's office to quash the subpoena so she wouldn't have to testify, she barged right in there and said she wanted to talk. She wanted to set the record straight. She basically went right at the defense lawyers, calling it lies that they were trying to allege that she and Wade had an affair that started before she picked him as the special prosecutor in the case, that he used some of the proceeds of more than $650,000 that he's been paid as the lead prosecutor in the case to take her on romantic vacations. She basically tried to refute it all and said that there nothing to it, and so did Wade.
Taylor Wilson:
Josh, as for Donald Trump, we know he separately appeared in court yesterday in New York over his hush money case. Has he spoken out about this Willis hearing?
Josh Meyer:
He did. He posted some stuff on Truth Social. Not surprisingly, he said that this means the whole case should be thrown out. "Game over," I think is what he called it, on Truth Social. So, yes, he's watching carefully, and he's hoping the whole case gets thrown out because of these alleged improprieties. Nobody I've talked to said that that's going to happen. There's a chance, if the judge believes that they have tainted the case by having their affair, which they both agree to now that they did have an affair, but if he thinks that there was a continuing effort for them to keep the case going so that they could financially benefit from it, he might disqualify some or all of the prosecutors in the office, especially Willis, and hand the case over to a state governing board which would then figure out what to do with it. Probably try to give it to another DA's office around the state.
Taylor Wilson:
Josh, we have another day in court today for the Fani Willis proceedings. What can we expect?
Josh Meyer:
Today, I think there's going to be some more fireworks. Willis will get back on the stand. In this case, she'll be cross-examined by prosecutors. It'll be a friendly cross-examination, of course, where they'll try to help her give answers that bolster her case that she did nothing wrong and that Nathan Wade did nothing wrong. She's even bringing in her father to testify remotely from California to talk about this. One of the issues is whether or not Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor, co-habitated with Fani Willis in a apartment that she was renting, essentially as a safe house, because of threats she'd been receiving, and whether if Wade stayed there with her in an official co-habitation status, then technically he's benefiting financially from their relationship. So they're expected to refute that. I'm sure Willis will come back at the prosecutors again. But yesterday, it was very, very heated. She was basically telling them to let her finish her answers, not to yell at her. She was calling it lies. She was very, very upset.
Taylor Wilson:
Josh Meyer covers domestic security for USA today. Thank you, Josh.
Josh Meyer:
Sure, always a pleasure.
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Taylor Wilson:
A former FBI informant has been indicted by a Justice Department special counsel for allegedly lying about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden's overseas business dealings. It's a setback for House Republican's impeachment inquiry of the president. Alexander Smirnov was charged with two counts of making a false statement and creating a false record for information that he fed the FBI. He was arrested on Wednesday at the Las Vegas airport. He's accused of falsely claiming that executives of Ukrainian energy firm, Burisma, admitted to him in 2015 and 2016 that they hired Hunter Biden to protect them through his dad from a number of problems. Hunter Biden was a Burisma board member. House Republicans had previously cited Smirnov's story about Hunter Biden's business dealings in their impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden. The charges against Smirnov were brought by the same special counsel who previously brought tax and gun related charges against Hunter Biden.
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We're learning more about the shooting that broke out during the Super Bowl victory celebrations in Kansas City this week. Authorities said yesterday that a personal dispute between several people erupted in gunfire, injuring more than 20 and killing a mother of two. Nearly a million people were estimated to have been in downtown Kansas City on Wednesday when gunshots sent people running for cover. 22 people in all were wounded, and police said about half of the victims were under the age of 16. Police told USA Today that they detained three juveniles but released one who they determined was not involved. You can read more with the link in today's show notes.
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Half of Black adult gamers in the US say they were harassed last year, according to an annual report compiled by the Anti-Defamation League. That marked a 19-point increase since the anti-hate group's 2020 survey. Additionally, 48% of female gamers reported being harassed because of their gender in 2023, slightly up from the previous year. The study found that exposure to white supremacist ideologies decreased from 2022 to 2023, but those who encountered it did so at alarming rates, the study said, experiencing it at least weekly. As for what the companies are doing about these issues, Daniel Kelley, the ADL Center's director of Strategy and Operations, says that some game companies in the wake of George Floyd's murder in 2020 issued statements in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and some pledged to donate to nonprofits. But he said that very few committed to explicitly addressing anti-Black hate in their online games. You could read more with a link in today's show notes.
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Put Caitlin Clark in the history books. The Iowa star passed Kelsey Plum last night to become the top women's college basketball scorer of all time. She entered the game against Michigan needing just eight points for the record. Then in typical Caitlin Clark fashion, she scored 49, also setting a school and personal single game record in the process. For more, I spoke with USA Today sports national correspondent, Lindsay Schnell, on the greatness of Caitlin Clark. Lindsay, thanks for hopping on The Excerpt today.
Lindsay Schnell:
Hey, of course, thanks for having me. Always happy to talk women's basketball.
Taylor Wilson:
Lindsay, we've been waiting for this potential moment for months. Just how big of a deal is this record?
Lindsay Schnell:
Kelsey Plum's record has stood since 2017. It was hard to know, when she broke it, how long it would take for someone else to come along. Then suddenly here is this six-foot, skinny point guard from Des Moines, Iowa, who just starts lighting up scoreboards early in her career. She has done more than just score more points than any woman in NCAA history. She has brought a new level of fanaticism to the game, and I think she's made a lot of people into women's basketball fans, which, as someone who has loved this game for my entire life, I love seeing not just all the little girls, but all the little boys who show up to games in Caitlin Clark jerseys.
Taylor Wilson:
Lindsay, she is also on track to break the men's record set by Pete Maravich. What's the latest there? Can you talk about that?
Lindsay Schnell:
I think that that is one of the coolest milestones that Caitlin could pass. Because Pete Maravich, who played at LSU from 1967 to 1970, he scored 3,667 points in just three years. Everyone used to call him Pistol Pete. Well, people like to call Caitlin Clark Ponytail Pete because of her ability like Maravich to score, to involve teammates, court vision, spectacular. That record has stood for more than 50 years, so Caitlin is on pace to break that. It should happen toward the end of the regular season, maybe in the Big 10 tournament. To have a woman pass that record, I know he only set it in three years, but I think that that's just really, really exciting for women's sports, that there is so much scoring right now. Caitlin is leading that charge. That she is the biggest name in college basketball, regardless of gender, is a good thing, especially as we head into the NCAA tournament.
Taylor Wilson:
Lindsay, Iowa games have really become one of the hottest tickets in sports. Can you talk about that a bit? Really this Caitlin Clark phenomenon, what does this tell us about Clark's impact and legacy on the sport?
Lindsay Schnell:
ESPN analyst, Debbie Antonelli, I think has the best word for this, Clarkonomics, the economic impact of Caitlin Clark coming to your town. You're going to sell a lot of tickets. You're going to sell a lot of parking. You're going to sell a lot of concessions. For every game that Caitlin Clark plays, whether it's on the road or at home, there is a line out the door two or three hours before tipoff because everyone is excited to watch her play. It's the whole thing about a rising tide lifts all boats, right? I fully expect that, whenever she goes to the WNBA, that attendance is going to continue to rise in women's basketball because of the impact she has had and the eyes she has brought to the game.
Taylor Wilson:
As for Caitlin Clark, beyond the college game, you mentioned WNBA. What is next for her after this year?
Lindsay Schnell:
That's a great question. No one seems to know. Caitlin is part of the last what we call the COVID class in the NCAA. Because COVID was still going strong her freshman year at Iowa, if she wants it, she has a fifth year of eligibility, so she could come back next year, take this scoring record to new heights. She could also go to the WNBA. If she goes to the WNBA, she is projected to be the number one pick, which would go to the Indiana Fever. They had last year's number one pick and the Rookie of the Year. So she would be paired up with a post player who's fantastic. Then there's also the Olympic team. There are thoughts that Caitlin could make the Olympic roster and play in Paris this summer.
Taylor Wilson:
All right, Lindsay Schnell, exciting times. Thanks for your time on this. Really appreciate it.
Lindsay Schnell:
Of course.
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Taylor Wilson:
Thanks for listening to The Excerpt. We're produced by Shannon Rae Green, and our executive producer is Laura Beatty. Thanks to producer Bradley Glanzrock for his work on the show. You can get the podcast wherever you get your audio. If you're on a smart speaker, just ask for The Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson. Back tomorrow with more of The Excerpt from USA Today.