On Thursday, a Georgia appeals court disqualified Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in the election subversion case against President-elect Donald Trump and more than a dozen co-defendants.
The decision comes after the trial was put on hold in January when Willis was accused of having inappropriate relations with Nathan Wade, a special prosecutor who she hired onto the case.
In March, the judge overseeing the case allowed Willis to continue prosecuting the case if Wade was dismissed, which he was. Judge Scott McAffee also allowed Trump’s team to appeal his decision, which they did.
Even with Wade off the case, the three-person appeals panel voted 2-1 to remove Willis from her role due to a “significant appearance of impropriety.” The filing emphasized that disqualification was the only appropriate response to maintain public trust in the U.S. court system.
“After carefully considering the trial court’s findings in its order, we conclude that it erred by failing to disqualify DA Willis and her office,” the filing said. “The remedy crafted by the trial court to prevent an ongoing appearance of impropriety did nothing to address the appearance of impropriety that existed at times when DA Willis was exercising her broad pretrial discretion about who to prosecute and what charges to bring.”
“While we recognize that an appearance of impropriety generally is not enough to support disqualification, 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,” the filing added.
“We cannot conclude that the record also supports the imposition of the extreme sanction of dismissal of the indictment.”
Even though the indictment was not thrown out completely, for the case to continue, a new district attorney would need to replace Willis to take on the task of prosecuting the incoming president.
However, Trump told Fox News he doesn’t see anyone taking over the case.
“There is no way such corrupt people can lead a case and then it gets taken over by somebody else,” he said. “It was a corrupt case, so how could it be taken over by someone else?”
“The case has to be thrown out because it was started corruptly by an incompetent prosecutor who received millions of dollars through her boyfriend — who received it from her — and then they went on cruises all the time,” Trump added, referring to Willis’ relationship with Wade.
Willis’ team requested the Georgia Supreme Court to review the appeals court’s decision and will continue to fight to stay on the case.
Considered a major legal win for Trump, the Georgia case is not the only lawsuit that has lost traction following Trump’s presidential win in November. Both federal cases headed by special counsel Jack Smith were ultimately put to rest, and the criminal case in New York is indefinitely on hold.
In response to the news, Steve Sadow, lead counsel for Trump in the election subversion case, posted on social media that the appeal court had made a “well-reasoned and just decision” in dismissing Willis.
“The Court highlighted that Willis’ misconduct created an “odor of mendacity” and an appearance of impropriety that could only be cured by the disqualification of her and her entire office. As the Court rightfully noted, only the remedy of disqualification will suffice to restore public confidence. This decision puts an end to a politically motivated persecution of the next President of the United States,” he said.