Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani Willis must step aside from the election interference case against Donald Trump or remove the special prosecutor with whom she had a romantic relationship before the case can proceed, Judge Scott McAfee ruled on Firday. McAfee did not find that Willis’ relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade amounted to a conflict of interest that should disqualify her from the case. However, he said, the allegations created an “appearance of impropriety” that infected the prosecution team, reports the Associated Press. “As the case moves forward, reasonable members of the public could easily be left to wonder whether the financial exchanges have continued resulting in some form of benefit to the District Attorney, or even whether the romantic relationship has resumed,” the judge wrote. “Put differently, an outsider could reasonably think that the District Attorney is not exercising her independent professional judgment totally free of any compromising influences. As long as Wade remains on the case, this unnecessary perception will persist.”
Separately, House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) threatened contempt proceedings against Willis over a subpoena requesting information about her use of federal funds. Willis has already sent information in response to the subpoena, but the GOP leader complains she failed to turn over documents related to allegations from a now-terminated employee who flagged another former employee’s desire to misuse federal grant money, reports The Hill. The allegations center on a former employee who said the district attorney fired her after she raised concerns about how a Willis campaign aide-turned county employee hoped to use federal grants for items outside the scope of a youth violence and gang prevention program. In. a recording of the whistleblower's conversation with Willis, the district attorney does not dispute that the other employee’s desires to spend grant money on laptops and “swag” would be inappropriate. Willis said,