A Georgia judge ruled that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis can stay in former President Donald Trump's election interference case, but only if she removes a congressman with whom she had a personal relationship.
Questions about Willis's relationship with special counsel Nathan Wade had threatened to delay, and possibly derail, one of four separate criminal cases Trump is currently facing in the United States.
However, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee concluded that the relationship with Wade did not constitute a conflict of interest that should disqualify her from the case.
However, he said it created “an appearance of impropriety” that would negatively affect the prosecution team. He also called it a “tremendous” error in judgment.
He pointed to the fact that Willis' office would have paid Wade for his work as special prosecutor, as is standard practice. While McAfee flatly dismissed the idea that Wade's hiring was a “financial scheme” designed to “enrich” Willis, he explained that the public might perceive the opposite.
“As the case progresses, it is easy to leave reasonable members of the public wondering whether the financial exchanges have continued, resulting in some kind of benefit to the District Attorney, or even whether the romantic relationship has resumed,” McAfee wrote. in your decision.
“Put another way, an outsider might reasonably believe that the District Attorney is not exercising her independent professional judgment completely free of compromising influences. “As long as Wade remains on the case, this unnecessary perception will persist.”
McAfee also questioned the veracity of Willis and Wade's testimony about the timing of their relationship, but said there was not enough information to reach a conclusion. Willis did not immediately respond to the ruling.
Trump's defense team had tried to remove Willis from the case as a result of her relationship with Wade, but Friday's decision ended that attempt.
Still, the romantic imbroglio has consumed the case in recent weeks, delaying other proceedings.
Willis is prosecuting Trump and more than a dozen accomplices for their alleged attempts to overturn President Joe Biden's victory in Georgia, a key battleground state in the 2020 presidential election.
The case uses a statute typically associated with organized crime to accuse the former president, his lawyers, aides and local Republican officials of engaging in a “criminal enterprise” to keep Trump in power.
Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee, denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty.
The relationship did not prejudice prosecutors.
Following Friday's ruling, defense attorney Steve Sadow issued a statement and said Trump's legal team would respect the court's decision.
However, Sadow reaffirmed his belief that the judge “did not give appropriate weight to Willis and Wade's prosecutorial misconduct.”
“We will use every legal option available as we continue to fight to end this case, which should never have been filed in the first place,” Sadow said.
Willis had hired Wade to lead the team investigating whether Trump and his allies had engaged in an extortion enterprise to overturn the vote result in Georgia.
Both Willis and Wade insist they didn't start dating until Wade became special prosecutor. They also maintain that the relationship did not influence how the defendants in the case were treated.
However, a former colleague of Willis testified that there was evidence that the relationship began before Willis and Wade began working together. Trump's lawyers eventually accused the couple of lying to the court.
Willis and Wade said the relationship ended in mid-2023.
Judge McAfee said there was no indication that the due process rights of Trump and the other defendants had been violated or that the relationship prejudiced prosecutors in any way.
He said disqualification of a constitutional official, such as a district attorney, is not necessary when a less drastic option is available.
The ruling came days after McAfee dismissed three of the 13 charges against Trump in the original indictment, arguing that prosecutors did not provide enough details.
One dismissed charge arose from a phone call Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in early January 2021.
During the recorded call, Trump urged Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes,” one more than he lost in the state.
In addition to the Georgia case, Trump faces a separate criminal trial in New York, as well as two federal indictments: one related to his handling of classified documents and the other related to his role in the attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
