As part of the Donald Trump welcoming committee milling around outside the Fulton County Jail today, a former Georgia State House MAGA candidate who failed miserably in 2022 claims he has "filed for the arrest" of District Attorney Fani Willis for her part in Donald Trump's fourth indictment.
"There are four charges," Trump fanatic Brad Barnes told a reporter with the conservative online news site Post Millennial. "The two under the Georgia code are violation of oath by a public officer … and unprofessional conduct by public officers and employees … And then the two under the U.S. Code … are conspiracy against rights and deprivation of rights under color of law." (See video below, posted by Post Millennial.)
When asked to get to the point, he tried to clarify. "It's very clear that she is using her public office to prosecute a political grudge. And actions such as charging lawyers for filing legal paperwork and representation of their clients, for example, is a clear violation of the defendant's — like Mr. Trump's — right to a redress of grievances under the First Amendment."
From Newsweek:
Under Georgia state law, an individual can apply to have someone arrested if there has been some harm or injustice done to them. However to do so, they must first file a police report (it is unclear whether Barnes has done so) and then, undergo a legal hearing process where a judge then evaluates whether there is a justifiable cause to have that individual arrested.
And in Georgia, that's a very high threshold.
"You can't just go to the courthouse and 'swear out a warrant,'" an issue explainer by the Taliaferro County Sheriff's Office explains on its website. "Arrest warrants are not issued to 'teach someone a lesson' or to 'get him away from me.' Arrest warrants are issued because someone committed a criminal act that justifies arrest and incarceration."
According to Georgia state statute, any warrant for the arrest of a peace officer, law enforcement officer, DFCS case manager, teacher, or school administrator for any offense alleged to have been committed while in the performance of his or her duties may be issued "only by a judge of a superior court, a judge of a state court, or a judge of a probate court."
That said, to be successful he would also need standing in the case. And Barnes—a "successful small business owner and software engineer" who has no official role in the Georgia Republican Party, the Georgia House of Representatives, the Trump campaign, or seemingly any real position to speak of that would be germane to Willis' prosecution—likely lacks it.
Front page thumbnail image: Roschetzky Photography / shutterstock.com
