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By Giulia Carbonaro
Senior Reporter
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Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, who is presiding over a case involving Donald Trump, previously donated to Fani Willis' campaign, according to financial disclosures revealed by far-right news network Breitbart.
However, a claim by Breitbart that it appears to be a conflict of interest was quickly dismissed by legal experts.
On Wednesday, Breitbart journalist Wendell Husebø wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that McAfee had donated $150 to Willis in July 2020, the year she was elected. Sharing financial disclosure documents, Husebø wrote: "The donation [...] though small, appears to present a conflict of interest for Judge McAfee. Judges are supposed to be impartial and avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest. The judge donated to Willis in June 2020, while working for Joe Biden's DOJ."
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Newsweek contacted the Office of Public Affairs of the U.S. Department of Justice for comment via a form on its website.
McAfee is expected to decide whether Fulton County District Attorney Willis can continue prosecuting the Georgia case against the former president, who stands accused together with other 14 co-defendants of conspiring to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election in the state.
Willis has recently been put under mounting scrutiny for having a previously undisclosed romantic relationship with a special prosecutor in the case, Nathan Wade, whom she hired. The two recently admitted they had a relationship but denied any wrongdoing, saying Willis should not be disqualified from the case. The district attorney has been accused of enriching herself through the relationship, accusations she strongly denied.
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But the Breitbart journalist's claims were quickly blasted by fellow journalists and legal experts. "Several sitting judges in Georgia were DAs in the counties where they currently hear cases. McAfee was the head of the University of Georgia chapter of The Federalist Society. You may want to note that he served as an Assistant US Attorney under Trump," Atlanta News First chief investigator Brendan Keefe wrote on X.
"Joe Biden wasn't president in 2020. Trump was for all of 2020," he added, correcting Husebø's claims that in 2020 McAfee was working for Joe Biden's Department of Justice.
"Wendell, your facts aren't facts. You're correct that McAfee was at the DOJ, so not a judge yet. But in June 2020, Trump was still president," wrote another social media user. "We hadn't even had the election. So no, McAfee wasn't part of Biden's DOJ—he was Trump's DOJ. This is a big old burger of nothing."
Anna Bower, legal fellow and courts correspondent at Lawfare used the same definition, calling the claims, "a nothingburger".
"Judge McAfee donated a small sum to Fani Willis's campaign in 2020—*before* he was appointed to the bench. And Georgia courts have held that nominal campaign contributions are an insufficient basis for judicial recusal. There's no conflict of interest."
A conservative account named "Last True Conservative" wrote: "So citizens should not donate to politicians just in case they get appointed to the bench in the future? Is that the new rule?"
While law professor Anthony Michael Kreis commented on the Breitbart journalist's claims saying: "This is non-news. Sincerely, Anyone familiar with Georgia law and politics."
Newsweek contacted Bower and Kreis for comment by direct message on X on Thursday morning.
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