MSNBC legal analyst and attorney Katie Phang unloaded on the double standard being forced on Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis amid the ethics investigation into whether her relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade introduced any conflicts or misconduct into the Georgia election racketeering case against former President Donald Trump.
"The thing is, Katie, you know this all too well," said anchor Joy Reid. "Look, I have a book about this, about the way they did this. Be pretty but not too pretty. Be forceful but not too forceful. Don't be loud, don't be angry. If you're questioning my integrity and accusing me of hiring somebody that I was having an affair with when I'm telling you the timeline and then asking, did my kids live at my house? You want to know how much money I have? She was insulted and rightfully so. This idea that women of color have to sit there and be demure and take it, there were people on social media saying oh, she's coming in too hot. No, she wasn't. She was offended and she had a right to be offended."
"Yeah, so you know, there is something to be said about decorum and professionalism, but you didn't hear anything that wasn't decorum and professionalism from Fani Willis," said Phang.
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"I'm glad you bring about the example of being a woman of color," Phang continued. "There are more women in law school than there ever was when I was in law school, but when it comes to women of color, we're so sorely underrepresented. Especially when it comes to trials. When it comes to trial lawyers. For a woman to have to defend the fact that she makes her own money, the fact her daddy told her to make sure she had money stashed away. My mom told me the same damn thing. Make sure that you have money stashed away to take care of yourself because you shouldn't count on someone else."
"And that's the thing," she said. "Why should anybody have to defend this? But under the law, unfortunately, because the other side made these representations that met this threshold that forced this hearing to have to come to pass, that's the reason why Fani Willis and Nathan Wade got dragged into court. I will remind our viewers too, Joy, under Georgia law, you do not disqualify a prosecutor simply because there is a personal relationship. In fact, in this case, you have lawyers on the defense side that are married to each other. You have lawyers on the defense side that are dating each other, yet nobody has made a big stink about that. It's only the defense making a stink about that about Fani Willis."
"The important thing is this, she's not on trial," Phang added. "It's the people that tried to steal an election in the state of Georgia that are on trial. This is a sad, sorry sideshow that needs to end."
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Katie Phang calls Fani Willis ethics hearing a "sad, sorry sideshow"www.youtube.com
