Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee pushed back against Kenneth Chesebro attorney Scott Grubman after he accused District Attorney Fani Willis of "trying to prosecute the Republican Party."
At the close of a Tuesday hearing ahead of Chesebro's election interference trial, Grubman said he was putting the court "on notice" about a jury questionnaire.
"My reading of the state's submission was essentially there was one question, and it was worded slightly different, but essentially my read was, are you a Republican?" Grubman complained.
"They simply say, did you volunteer for the Republican Party?" he continued. "And what that shows to me is that that's what this case is about. They're going to try to get all the people off the jury who have ever supported any sort of Republican causes, who have ever supported the Republican Party or voted Republican."
But the judge shot him down for doing the same thing he accused the district attorney's office of doing.
"I understand that's the theme you take away, but when we actually look at the specific questions, many of them were identical," McAfee stated. "You asked, just like the state, how would you characterize your politics? Very liberal, somewhat liberal, conservative. You say, what political party do you identify with?
"That's identical to what they're asking," he added.
Grubman, however, wasn't satisfied.
"So yes, we should all know what political party [a potential juror is]. What they ask is, they don't even try to pretend... What they say is, are you a Republican? To me, that's inappropriate," he gasped. "I think it shows the theme. This district attorney's office is trying to prosecute the Republican Party, and that's why we're here."
