A Georgia appeals court removed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from the state election interference case against Donald Trump and others, the Associated Press reports. The case had been stalled for months over an appeal related to a romantic relationship Willis had with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, whom she hired to lead the case. Citing an “appearance of impropriety” that might not typically warrant such a removal, a Georgia Court of Appeals panel said in a 2-1 ruling that “this is the rare case in which disqualification is mandated and no other remedy will suffice to restore public confidence in the integrity of these proceedings.” Willis will ask the Georgia Supreme Court to review the decision. Trump will to the White House having overcome efforts to prosecute him and helped by a Supreme Court ruling granting him presumptive immunity for any “official acts” he takes in office.
The development comes after Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith abandoned two federal prosecutions against Trump and as sentencing in a hush money case in New York is on hold indefinitely on hold as a result of Trump’s victory in November. An Atlanta grand jury indicted Trump and 18 others in August 2023, using the states anti-racketeering law to accuse them of participating in a wide-ranging scheme to try to overturn Trump’s narrow 2020 presidential election loss to Democrat Joe Biden in Georgia. Four people have pleaded guilty. A defendant’s motion alleged that Willis and Wade were involved in an inappropriate romantic relationship and that Willis paid Wade large sums for his work and benefited when he paid for lavish vacations Dissenting Judge Benjamin Land said, “We are here to ensure the law has been applied correctly and to correct harmful legal errors when we see them. It is not our job to second-guess trial judges or to substitute our judgment for theirs."
Comments