'That's your argument?' Trump co-defendant's lawyer destroyed in Georgia Senate hearing
Ashleigh Merchant, an attorney for one of Donald Trump's co-defendants in Georgia, was grilled by a Democratic state senator during a hearing on Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
While speaking to the Georgia Senate, state Sen. Howard Jones pressed Merchant after she accused Willis of wrongly benefiting from an affair with special prosecutor Nathan Wade. Under Merchant's theory, Willis paid Wade to prosecute Trump and then received kickbacks in the form of vacations.
"And how much does Ms. Willis make?" Jones asked.
"Two hundred and something thousand a year," Merchant said.
"So your argument is that a person who makes $200,000 a year is actually setting up prosecutions to go on a trip that costs $3,500," Jones observed. "That's your argument?"
"No, no, not in isolation," Merchant insisted.
"I mean, you're talking about in isolation," the senator noted. "I'm talking about what's in [legal] briefs. I don't know what else you may be speculating about. I'm just talking about what's in briefs that says this is, this is the benefit that she got."
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"And all I'm saying is that I got a person who's making $200,000 and the benefit that you're putting into the briefs, not what you may say that you may find elsewhere, but the benefit in the briefs is I go on a trip for $3,300, $4,400," he added. "And they have made up all these prosecutions to go on a three-day cruise for $3,300. I mean, that's your argument. If that's your argument, that's your argument."
For her part, Merchant insisted there was more to her complaints about Willis and Wade.
"What else is in the brief?" Jones challenged her.
"A lot of facts, a lot of law," Merchant remarked.
"No, no, as far as actual financial benefit," Jones followed up.
"I did not want to have any, as you call it, speculation," Merchant admitted. "I did not want to speculate about anything else."
Merchant is representing Mike Roman, who is accused of conspiring with others to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.