'The train is coming': Fani Willis has warning for Trump in wake of hearing to try to oust her

Alright. In this CNN exclusive, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis defends herself, her reputation and the work of her team in her first public comments since Judge Scott McAfee's decision to keep her on the case of electoral subversion. CNN's Rafael Romo is with us now to tell us how CNN caught up with Willis and what she had to say today. Yes, I have to give credit to our dynamic producer, Jade Tim Garcia, who managed to land this interview. Fulton County District Attorney. Finally, Willis spent Saturday hunting for Easter eggs. The event was hosted by Wave, a law enforcement organization dedicated to helping children and the homeless year-round.

Willis was surprisingly candid, Fred, regarding questions about the final months of her life, including her Georgia election interference case against Donald Trump and the scandal sparked by her previous romantic relationship with special prosecutors she appointed to the case. We wanted to know if she feels like she needs to get her reputation back. And this was her response. I don't feel it's necessary to restore my reputation. Let's say it for the record. I'm not ashamed of anything I've done. You know, I guess my biggest crime is having a relationship with a man. But that's not something I find embarrassing in any way.

And I know that I have not done anything that is illegal. The extortion case was delayed for two months. Recall that following her revelations about her personal life, her decision-making credibility was also damaged in the eyes of Judge Scott McAfee. But Fulton County's embattled district attorney said the main case was not delayed because her team never stopped working on it. Let's take a look. No, what I'm saying is that we kept working and I think the media and especially organizations like you have been paying attention while that was happening. We were written correct and responsive. We were still doing the case the way it needed to be done.

I don't feel like they've held us back at all. I think efforts are being made to stop this

train

, but the

train

is

coming

. The train is

coming

, she said. Fred, if you didn't hear that. CNN reported exclusively on Thursday. Will plans to move forward with his goal of putting Donald Trump on trial before the November election. According to three people familiar with his plans. He also intends to ask the judge presiding over the Georgia criminal case to schedule a trial date for this summer. And lastly, and this is very important, Fred, let's remember that Will is seeking re-election in November.

So she has a lot to say in her place. That's a lot. But she seems very confident that she is ready to move forward. That's how it is. Alright. Rafael Romo, thank you very much to you and Jane for bringing this to us. All right, let's talk about this again right now, former federal prosecutor Ankush Khedery. He is now a senior editor at Politico magazine. So, Ankush, you heard from Funny Willis and she is unbreakable. She says they continued to do the work even though there was a two-month delay while her behavior was investigated. So should the trial begin this summer?

She says her team is ready. Well, I mean, look, it can be done this summer, right? And her team is ready and all the defendants are ready and the judge is ready, that would be perfectly appropriate. The problem is that it doesn't depend entirely on her. This case was filed last summer and even then it was going to be ambitious to file a case like this. 19 defendants, complicated issues, high-profile issues, novel issues on trial in one year. So in the state we are in now it was going to be a very, very heavy job, there are still a lot of outstanding issues, important pre-trial issues.

And, of course, there is still the defendant's intention to appeal Judge McCarthy's decision allowing Willis and her office to continue with the case. And the reason why this is particularly important is a very practical reason. I'm sure you will readily recognize that the judge will not want to have a trial if the verdict of that trial must later be thrown out because the prosecutor in the case was disqualified in the meantime. Good. So you don't want to have a trial before it's completely resolved at the appellate level, because it would be a waste of time and it would be bad for him personally if the decision was overturned and the trial was meaningless.

Did you feel that Judge McAfee's decision was proof of appeal? I've heard some define it that way because he went beyond her explanation of why he thinks she should stay on the case, but at the same time he reprimanded her. That essentially protected her decision to keep her on the case so that, as Trump's team says, she wants to appeal, they may not actually have anything to appeal on? Yes, I think the odds of success are pretty low because I thought the judge's opinion was well constructed. He made detailed factual findings, including on matters of credibility, that are very difficult for appellate courts to guess.

But although it is a low probability, even for the judge, it is 5%. It's a 1 in 20 chance that it will eventually be reversed. I mean, he'll be thinking about the practicalities of putting the country through a test that can be altered by even a small percentage chance. And it wouldn't seem that way either, because this is the same judge who would supervise the electoral subversion case. Which also seemed like he would feel almost obligated to try to honor a speedy trial because there was this two-month delay because the co-defendants had filed this complaint against the prosecutor. And now that his decision has been handed down, does the judge feel obligated to move forward with the case, so to speak?

I think the judges are very happy to just turn the page and keep this thing moving. The question is whether he can move forward that quickly. Good. And I think the closest analogy that especially people in the Atlanta-era area will be familiar with is the young thug trial, which involves a lot of people in and around the entertainment industry. That case has been going on for a couple of years. It still continues. And it is the closest compared to the scale, the number of defendants and the complexity of the case. And that has happened for years.

Good. I guess I would like to make one last comment, which is relevant to this. The judge issued a relatively highly critical opinion, let's put it that way, toward the district attorney. and he questioned the credibility of it on a very practical psychological human level. We shouldn't expect him to be in the mood to do her any favors now. Hmm. And then I guess my last question was, you know, how could an additional delay affect the readiness of the team that Willis says they have now? Well, the government is very good at maintaining continuity of people working on cases, particularly very important cases.

There will be lawyers we will never hear about, who I'm sure are also working that way with the investigators on the case. That's why I wouldn't wait for the delay itself. I think we should all fully take Will's word when he says that the office is doing everything it can to move this case forward as quickly as possible. And also, he said, the train comes to underscore his and his team's willingness to take on the case. Alright. Thank you very much Ankush Khedery. I appreciate it. Thanks for inviting me.