Trump at war with women is not a fresh news story, but lately, the battles have spread almost as quickly as the conflict in the Middle East. While the recent settlement of E. Jean Carroll against Trump to the tune of $83.3 million commands headlines, three Black women should also be remembered: Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing Trump’s federal election interference case.
Whether in or out of the courtroom, Trump is under fire. The Carroll verdict is the biggest blow, but it will undoubtedly be appealed and be a continuing media story. It may also soon give way to verdicts from Georgia and New York, where Trump is assailing Willis, insisting she should be moved from the case. He claims that she has “inappropriately injected race into the case and stoked racial animus,” which in some instances sounds like a personal indictment.
Moreover, Trump and his lawyers are calling for her removal based on allegations that Willis has a romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, whom she appointed to the case—a potential conflict of interest. To date, Willis has not responded to the charges but has vigorously defended Wade and his qualifications.
On another battlefront, Trump targeted James, who has charged Trump and his co-defendants in a $370 million civil fraud trial. He is accused of inflating his net worth by billions of dollars to obtain better loans from banks and reduced taxes. Trump has denied any wrongdoing and asserted that the litigation against him is politically motivated because he is the current Republican presidential frontrunner.
Chutkan has consistently rejected Trump’s call for a dismissal of the trial and slapped him with a gag order. It appears doubtful that the trial’s scheduled start date of March 4 will occur in a case that awaits a judgment from the U.S. Court of Appeals on whether Trump is immune from prosecution.
One other woman, Stormy Daniels, and a “hush money” payment is still on the docket for late March. Prosecutors reported that they have evidence of other hush money payments to cover damaging stories during his presidential bid in 2016. And so it goes.