US

Judge declines to remove Fani Willis from Trump election interference case

Georgia prosecutor accepts resignation of special counsel with whom she had relationship, allowing case to proceed

Fani Willis, the Fulton County district attorney. Photograph: Alex Slitz/AP/Bloomberg

Stefania Palma in Washington
Fri Mar 15 2024 - 19:50

A judge in the state of Georgia has ruled that the district attorney prosecuting Donald Trump for election meddling may continue leading the case as long as the outside lawyer with whom she had a romantic relationship steps aside.

The judge, Scott McAfee, had been asked by some defendants in the sprawling racketeering case to disqualify Fani Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, alleging she had benefited financially from a relationship with Nathan Wade, who was hired to help lead the office’s prosecution against Mr Trump and 18 others.

Those defendants “failed to meet their burden of proving that the district attorney acquired an actual conflict of interest in this case through her personal relationship and recurring travels with her lead prosecutor”, Judge McAfee said in his ruling.

Nevertheless, the “established record now highlights a significant appearance of impropriety that infects the current structure of the prosecution team – an appearance that must be removed”, he wrote.

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Ms Willis on Friday accepted Mr Wade’s resignation, allowing the case – one of four criminal indictments brought against Mr Trump over the past year – to move forward once again after weeks of delay to consider the disqualification request.

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“While respecting the court’s decision, we believe that the court did not afford appropriate significance to the prosecutorial misconduct of Willis and Wade,” a lawyer representing Mr Trump in Georgia said in a statement. “We will use all legal options available as we continue to fight to end this case, which should never have been brought in the first place.”

Disqualifying Ms Willis would have dealt a crippling, and potentially fatal, blow to the case. State officials would have had the power to replace her and any external appointment could have resulted in further delays to the trial or a shift in strategy.

The motion itself has already delayed what was already one of the most complex and damaging cases against Mr Trump. State prosecutors had requested the trial begin for the remaining defendants on August 5th. Four defendants have already pleaded guilty.

Efforts to dismiss the district attorney also cast a shadow over Willis as she handles the most high-profile case in her prosecutorial career.

[ Two months in Georgia: How Donald Trump tried to overturn a crucial state’s vote ]

A two-and-a-half-day-long hearing on the matter at times delved into intimate details of the relationship between Ms Willis and Mr Wade, including trips they took to locations including California, Belize and Aruba. A defiant Willis took the stand to testify, denying any wrongdoing and portraying efforts to push her off the case as being “contrary to democracy”.

“These people are on trial for trying to steal an election in 2020,” Ms Willis said during her testimony. “I’m not on trial no matter how hard you try to put me on trial.”

The four criminal cases against Mr Trump have been beset by delays over the past few months, making it increasingly unlikely that all or most of them will reach trial before the November presidential election. Mr Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee to square off against President Joe Biden in an expected rematch of the 2020 vote. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2024

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