Judge Scott McAfee kept his cards close to his chest on Thursday as he returned to former President Donald Trump‘s election interference case in Georgia.
McAfee held his first hearing in the case since he declined the motion to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and his behavior left legal analysts in the dark about just how he would rule on Trump’s efforts to get the case thrown out on First Amendment grounds.
Anthony Michael Kreis, an attorney and professor at Georgia State University College of Law, told Newsweek that McAfee didn’t offer much insight into how he’d rule, leaving even experts guessing about whether or not the arguments would be enough to derail what has been seen as the strongest of the four criminal cases against Trump.
“He did not show a hand in terms of how he might come out, but he did ask incisive questions of the state and the defendants throughout the entire hearing,” Kreis said.
McAfee agreed to hear arguments based on the pretrial motions filed by Trump and former Georgia GOP chair David Shafer, bringing the focus back to the sweeping RICO case even as the former president and his associates seek to appeal McAfee’s ruling on the disqualification of Willis.
After weeks of court proceedings, McAfee said Willis could remain on the prosecution if Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade stepped down. Wade resigned hours after the ruling.
