Martha is next with the story. Martha nice bag pipes there. Thanks very much. Good afternoon. Im martha maccallum. This is the story. Were waiting response this hour from d. A. Fani willis. We could hear from here any moment after judge mcafee left it up to her if she wants to continue with the trump Election Interference case. He says she will have to do it without her former boyfriend and colleague, nathan wade, who you see to the right of her in that picture. The judge said although she showed a tremendous lapse in judgment in hiring wade, he could not conclude that that had had a Material Conflict in the trump case. In the decision, he did go after her for her unprofessional manner when she stormed in to the atlanta courtroom in february after wade testified. This combative testimony. Watch. As you know, mr. Wade is a southern gentleman. Me not so much. Your honor no, no, no. This is the truth. I object to you getting records. Youve been intrusive in to peoples personal lives. You think im on trial. These people are on trial for trying to steal an election. Im not on trial no matter how hard you put me on trial. Martha we may get another moment like that any minute when she responds. Who knows what her action is. Well find out when shes ready to share that with the country. So republican Georgia State senate joins me now. Hes leading a special Georgia Senate committee that is probing d. A. Willis. Thanks for being here. First of all, your reaction to what judge mcafee decided this morning and released in this document . Well, were not surprised at all. I actually expected he might have removed from the case. Its an extreme sort of action to totally dismiss the criminal prosecution. I didnt anticipate that. But he did give her the choice. He said you need to remove yourself and the entire das office from further prosecution or at the least remove mr. Wade from any further involvement due to this appearance of impropriety. He laid it out good there in his order, ill have to say. Martha i want to play this from Andrew Weissman responding to this news earlier today. He was part of the trump investigation back during the administration. Watch this. The key here is how to go forward because clearly wade is off. I think that this is such a huge body blow, almost a fatal blow to fani willis. I think the way forward, she has to voluntarily recuse herself. I dont know that she has it in her, but she has to say im going to appoint a Chief Assistant that will oversee this case. She clearly has no credibility with this judge. Martha what do you think about that . Do you agree . Id agree totally. When you hear commentators from the left that agree that theres no other responsible choice for her to make, i feel confident thats what shell do. Theres just no way a jury will give any credibility to her further involvement. It will undermine her own mission of prosecuting these individuals if she stays personally involved. Its been a series of really poor choices. Martha so what can you do with this Subpoena Effort . What are you guys looking for in the state senate in georgia from this action . We had heard all of these sort of unbelievable accusations. Very disturbing allegations about her conduct. Not only the relationship that she had, but other financial improprieties. She didnt disclose these gifts as required by Fulton County law. She didnt get approval of hiring this attorney as she was required to do. She personally gets to review his bills and approve those bills with no other intervention. Were concerned about the misspending of taxpayer money. Thats what were going to look into. Martha before i let you go, senator cowsert, is there a hunch or feeling around the state house in georgia about what shes going to do and when were going to hear from her . You cant tell with her. Shes been so defiant throughout this process. One of the things that the judge basically said is that she had made inappropriate comments both in a church she gave quotes and Background Information to a book that was being published during the course of this prosecution. Allowed her staff to do that. You tonight generally see prosecutors speaking publicly about cases. The judge expressed great concern about that. So i think that its the right choice for her to make. Hes giving her an out. Whether she will take it or not, who knows. She seems to love the spot light and she is defiant in any attempts to control her in any way. Martha we will wait along with you all, im sure, to hear what she decides to do obviously the trump team watching this closely as well. Thanks very much, senator cowsert. Thanks for being here today. Thank you. Martha lets bring in Matt Whitaker and doug collins, former republican congressman from georgia and host of the doug collins podcast. Great to have you with us today. I spoke with you earlier, doug, about this and got your initial reaction to this decision. We havent heard from Matt Whitaker yet. What do you think about this judges decision . Obviously the result is not what some people hoped for but this opinion is blistering. It said she was unprofessional and lacked judgment. The like that struck me that he said an odor of mendacity remains. That says your office and you as a da have no credibility with me as a judge. I think that is essentially says that were lying, we know youre lying and we dont anything you say. Thats a beg deal. Martha so why didnt he remove her from the case given that strong language, matt . Again, the bar is very, very high to remove not only a da but the office as a whole. You need to show an actual conflict. He just didnt think the evidence was there. Obviously it was hard for the defendants to create that evidence since she controlled all the documents, all the information, lied about it. He didnt feel he could get to that result. He cut the legs out of so much of the office and continuing this prosecution will be hard for her to remain no matter what. Martha doug collins, looking at this in The Big Picture and seeing peoples responses to this morning. It strikes me that americans are perhaps sadly getting used to hearing this kind of report. Where a public official gets basically criticized in the deepest possible way that any civilian would never survive. They would lose their job, they would be put in jail, depending on the different circumstances, of course. I would just put up these images. The former fbi director comey, former special counsel, Robert Mueller, robert hur who we heard from and now scott mcafee. All of whom have laid out the very troublesome behavior of different individuals across the board, and then at the end of these big proclamations, the American People are told we really couldnt do anything. What do you say about that . Yeah, i think this is its what has fed this discontent across the country. As an attorney here in georgia, its interesting to hear what this judge said. We also have to remind you, this is the second time that this da has been held basically by a judge in Fulton County to have done something improper, not binding before the courts, something that would have her in trouble in this case. If you remember, she was by a judge, the Lieutenant Governor, she could not prosecute or go after the Lieutenant Governor because she participated in a political event against his opponent. Bernie scorched here in a opinion about that. Didnt do anything. Now another judge doing the same thing, Going Forward here. This is what feeds the american doubt about the cases against donald trump. I think thats why you see donald trump going up in the polls and winning because people see this and they dont like it. This is really where people are drawing the line saying were not going to go for something that is going after one person when youre not Holding Accountable those going after them. Martha yeah, just these lists and documents full of egregious behavior. The conclusion at the end of it is yeah, but we cant really do anything. As Matt Whitaker says, the bar would be too high. As a georgian and being a senator, what is she going to do . Shes defiant. Its hard for me to agree with someone on msnbc but she doesnt have a good place to go here. Matt and the judge said, youre laying and your office is compromised. She doesnt have a good place to go here. Shes trying to find anyway she can spin this and be a victim in this case, which is just not going to be true. Shes struggling to find a way out. We may hear from her today but may be later this weekend and youll hear it from a victim standpoint. Martha very interesting. The judge is up for election in may. He has someone running against him. Thats a late entry to that race. The d. A. Is also up for reelection in may. Thanks, gentlemen. Matt whitaker, good to have you with us. Doug collins, thanks very much. Our breaking News Coverage this afternoon continues with Ari Fleischer and Leslie Marshall as we await the response from georgia d. A. Fani willis next. Choose advil liquigels for faster, stronger and longerlasting relief than tylenol rapid release gels because advil targets pain at the source of inflammation. So for faster pain relief, advil the pain away. I brought in ensure max protein with 30 grams of protein those who tried me felt more energy in just two weeks. Ugh. Here, ill take that. Woo hoo ensure max protein, 30 grams protein, 1 gram sugar, 25 vitamins and minerals. And a new fiber blend with a prebiotic. Ive struggled with generalized Myasthenia Gravis. But the picture started changing when i started on vyvgart. Vyvgart is for adults with generalized Myasthenia Gravis who are antiachr antibody positive. In a clinical trial, vyvgart significantly improved most participants ability to do daily activities when added to their current gmg treatment. Most participants taking vyvgart also had less muscle weakness. And your Vyvgart Treatment Schedule is designed just for you. In a clinical study, the most common side effects included urinary and respiratory tract infections, and headache. Vyvgart may increase the risk of infection. Tell your doctor if you have a history of infections or symptoms of an infection. Vyvgart can cause allergic reactions. Available as vyvgart for iv infusion and also as Vyvgart Hytrulo for subcutaneous injection. Additional side effects for Vyvgart Hytrulo may include injection site reactions. Talk to your neurologist about vyvgart. Business. Its not a ninetofive proposition. Its all day and into the night. Its all the things that keep this world turning. The gotos that keep us going. The places we cheer. And check in. They all choose the advanced Network Solutions and round the Clock Partnership from Comcast Business. See why Comcast Business powers more Small Businesses than anyone else. Get started for 49. 99 a month plus ask how to get up to an 800 prepaid card. Dont wait call today. Martha as you can see, the White House Briefing is underway. Everybody has their green on for st. Patricks day at the white house today. Well monitor john kirby if he says anything that lets listen to Jackie Heinrichs asking her question. Its a quarterly thing. Its a Sanctions Package that was put if place by the previous administration, by President Trump and his team, that allows for iraq to be able to work its way off of iranian energy. So that they can keep the lights on. Were continuing to work with our iraqi partners about how to do that. Right now theyre dependent for a lot of energy from iran. So we dont want to penalize the iraqi people for efforts that theyre still trying to get to wean off of that. I would remind everybody and we talked about this before, i think, three months ago we talked about this, none of this money goes to the mullahs, none of this money goes in to tehran. The sanctions relief provided goes to vendors that provide humanitarian assistance to the iranian people. Not only do the iraqi people not suffer because of this, the iranian people wont suffer because of this. Wouldnt it be the iranian people that would suffer as a result of the teeth in the warning . Youre saying you would suspend flights in iran air to europe if iran supplies Ballistic Missiles to russia. I didnt say that. The Press Reports said that. Its not like the ayatollah flies commercial. The iranian people would be if ones that would be harmed by that if that comes to pass. Its also not like the regime and the irgc are thinking this is some sort of wind fall. Like this is going to make a big difference in their support for terrorist networks. They continue to support hezbollah and the houthis that has not changed since 2018 when these waivers were passed by this administration and the previous one. Hold on. Youre talking about one of the most hely sanctioned countries on the planet. Were still going to look at additional options if we need to. We have been nothing but clear and direct and the forceful in pushing back on iran. Martha the last three months, three american soldiers were killed in jordan. The Houthis FiringBallistic Missiles, drones and commercial vessels and naviships. Three atomic bombs that could be built in iran with uranium has been enriched to that extent. Blinken said theres an issue of the iaea inspectors. What have that done to justify a renewal of this waiver . Its a renewal that we go through every quarter. Its not about penalizing the iraqi people and the fact that theyre dependent on iranian energy. Look what else weve done. Weve got a coalition of ships In The Red Sea protecting against houthi attacks on shipping there. We have struck back and forcefully against these groups in iraq and syria. We continue to have sanctions in place, significant sanctions on Iranian Regime for multiple reasons. Going after protesters from terrorist networks. The nuclear program. A lot of sanctions in place. By the way, were still conducting operations at sea to try to prevent their shipment of material and arms to some of these groups. The idea that were laying back and not doing anything on iran doesnt fly in the face of the facts. Thanks. You said the u. S. Has not seen a plan to protect civilians in rafah martha Jackie Heinrichs questions about this issue of 10 billion in sanctions relief for iraq, which allows them to buy energy from iran and a lot of people criticizing that move as another outcome that puts more money in the pockets of the mullahs that have really stepped up their weaponry. They have Ballistic Missile operations that sun like anything that they have had before and all of their attacks that weve seen through other patriots, the houthis and hamas and hezbollah over the last several months. Thats what that exchanged was focused on between Jacqui Heinrich and john kirby at the white house. Well go back if theres anything that we want to dip in to at the white house this afternoon. Were also getting reaction again to this news around the trump situation and the Georgia Election interference case and fani willis as we hate to hear from her on this friday afternoon. Lets bring in Ari Fleischer, former press secretary for george w. Bush and Leslie Marshall, democratic strategist. Welcome to both of you. Great to have you here this afternoon. Leslie, lets start with you. Its interesting. Were hearing from people who are sort of typically more conservative and typically more liberal that they want to see Fani Willis Step aside from this case. Andrew weissmann spoke out about that as well. Hes no friend to the former president. What do you think . Well, i dont know that i want to see her step aside. Look, this is an area where ari and i may agree because were seeing people on the left and right agree. Theres optics going into this. If youre trying to prosecute, one could argue one of the biggest names, former president , you know people will find every single thing out. What did you eat four years ago on a tuesday for lunch. So you are going to have your ducks in a row and make sure that nothing smells, this relationship smelled. You hear the harsh rebuke from the judge. People say this is a partial win for the former president. Okay, she can proceed. A partial win for her. Make no mistake, this case is damaged to a degree not only with delays, not only with embarrassment but optics. Optics which the jurors see and on a larger level what the voters see. One of them has to go im not sure that i would necessarily push for her. Some people are saying wade, some people are saying willis. Either way, its damaging. I dont see her stepping down. I see her more sending wade packing with his bags. Martha okay. Were following this closely. There may be some developments coming momentarily. Ari, your thoughts on the optics as leslie points them out. Obviously the trump team would like to see this case and pretty much all the others fall apart. Fani willis will never step down. This is here her lifes work. Her claim to fame to pick up on the judges ruling, shes the od