This Fani Willis ‘bargaining chip’ is terrifying Donald Trump: lawyer

The Georgia prosecutor building a criminal election interference case against Donald Trump holds a powerful bargaining chip very likely “terrifying” the former U.S. president, a legal expert said.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Nick Akerman on Monday applauded Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis for using the same tactic that led to the resignation of former President Richard Nixon. What’s more, Akerman used the words of Trump’s own attorney to do it.

“This so-called RICO case is nothing more than a bargaining chip for DA Willis,” Steven Sadow said last week.

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“As a former prosecutor who regularly used the RICO statute, let me be clear,” Akerman responded. “There is nothing wrong with using RICO as a bargaining chip.”

RICO — or the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act — law is commonly used to pursue a big legal fish because of the hefty 20-year prison sentence that comes with a guilty verdict, Akerman argued.

Fear of decades behind bars gives co-defendants a “powerful incentive” to make plea deals and testify, Akerman noted.

“For prosecutors and defense lawyers, bargaining for a less serious crime is standard operating procedure,” he wrote.

For Willis, it’s a standard practice that appears to be working. The Georgia prosecutor has already lined up plea deals with former Trump attorneys Sidney Powell, Ken Chesebro and Jenna Ellis, as well a bail bondsman Scott Hall.

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Co-defendant Mark Meadows, Trump’s former chief-of-staff and close confidant in the lead-up to the Jan. 6 insurrection, may also be buckling to prosecutors’ pressure, according to reports.

“The fact that Mr. Meadows reportedly provided similar statements about his knowledge of Mr. Trump’s plot to undermine the peaceful transfer of power prior to being granted immunity by Jack Smith has to be terrifying to Mr. Trump,” Akerman writes.

“This is precisely how the Watergate burglary case was cracked wide open.”