MSNBC host Katy Tur slammed Georgia prosecutor Adam Abbate on Friday for his performance on behalf of embattled Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, asking if that was the "best" the county could do.
A Georgia state judge heard closing arguments Friday on allegations that Willis' romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade benefited her financially and should disqualify her from the election interference case against former President Trump. Abbate said efforts to remove Willis were tantamount to harassment.
Multiple news outlets reported on Abbate’s halting speaking style during the course of the hearing. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution was one such news outlet to note the "long pauses and halting answers as he at times struggled to answer questions from Judge Scott McAfee" and even suggested that Willis at times "seemed eager to step up to the podium and argue the matter herself."
Tur spoke to legal expert Melissa Redmon about the ongoing case that has distracted from Trump's legal woes, noting that Redmon herself had served as the Deputy DA for Fulton County.
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"I’m struck by… this lawyer is kind of hard to watch," Tur said. "I mean, as a layman, he’s kind of hard to watch. Is this the best the DA’s team has to put up?"
Redmon argued that Abbate is a "very good attorney," saying that from what she can remember, he chiefly handles murder cases.
"When you talk about these nuanced arguments, I don’t know if this is something he’s used to presenting," she conceded.
Redmon then pointed out that there are likely different tactics for different types of trials.
"I would imagine that generally what happens is the whole team gets together, and they flesh out which the strongest points are, which cases should be cited, how the arguments should be presented," she began.
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"I think as a trial attorney though, you have to be very disciplined and resist the temptation of going forward with your plan, highlighting the weaknesses of the defense’s argument," Redmon said. "As opposed to taking the bait from the defense and starting your argument off responding arguing to them, as opposed to enabling yourself to settle in, say what you were going to say and ‘then, by the way, Judge, what they said was wrong, let me tell you why.’"
At one point, Abbate accidentally referred to Willis as "Ms. Wade" before correcting himself, confusing her last name for that of her former romantic partner.
