Fani Willis Gets Ammunition to Use Against Donald Trump

In her efforts to prosecute him for election interference, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis will be helped by Donald Trump‘s hush money convictions, experts told Newsweek.

On Thursday, the former president was found guilty on all 34 charges of falsifying business records over $130,0000 worth of payments to former adult film star Stormy Daniels to keep an alleged affair between them secret ahead of the 2016 election. Trump denies any wrongdoing and claims the case is politically motivated.

While that trial is over, Trump still faces three other criminal cases. In one, he and 18 others have been accused of trying to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee, who has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, lost the state by some 12,000 votes.

Legal experts said that Willis could learn from the hush money case when prosecuting Trump.

“I don’t think it will have a direct impact, unless Trump, a convicted felon, wants to testify,” Matthew Mangino, a former district attorney in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, told Newsweek. “If anything, it provides a road map to prosecuting a former president, something that didn’t exist prior to yesterday.”

John Acevedo, a visiting associate professor at the Emory University School of Law, told Atlanta News First said that the verdict will have “a huge psychological impact on the case.

“In most trials you cannot bring in the prior convictions of a defendant. For potential jurors and for Fani Willis, the door’s been opened a former president has been convicted, that kind of aura of invincibility has been broken and in that sense there’s a huge psychological impact for both the potential juror and for Fani Willis and her team.

“This doesn’t prove Mr. Trump guilty of anything in Georgia but it certainly removes his aura of invincibility and paves the way for the prosecution to commence here in Fulton County.”

Willis has faced criticism over her romantic involvement with Nathan Wade, a special prosecutor she hired in the case against Trump who later resigned when details of their relationship were brought to light.

She continues to face scrutiny, including sustained efforts to remove her from the case. Georgia Republican lawmakers are investigating “allegations of misconduct” against Willis related to alleged “potential conflicts of interest and misuse of public funds.” This has impacted the start date of the trial.

“Prosecutors in Georgia and those who want to go after Trump will use this verdict as a talking point,” said Michael Berry, executive director of the center for litigation at the America First Policy Institute and former senior appellate defense attorney in the U.S. Marine Corps.

“We can expect Trump to appeal but the sentencing phase is unclear, and there’s timeline for how Judge Juan Merchan will want to handle that.”

Atlanta-based attorney Josh Schiffer said the trial will provide “learning opportunities” for Trump’s next case.

“With any case of this notoriety, you’re going to have learning opportunities to see how this case was presented,” he said. “Willis’ office will learn a lot of how you put a former president on trial.”

Newsweek contacted representatives for Trump and Willis by email for comment.