CBS News legal contributor Caroline Polisi said Thursday that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ attempt to retrieve her election interference case against President-elect Donald Trump is likely doomed to fail.
Willis on Wednesday requested that the Georgia Supreme Court reinstate her on the case after being disqualified in December, The New York Times reported.
Polisi explained on CBS News that the Georgia Supreme Court likely won’t reverse the Georgia Court of Appeals’ decision to disqualify Willis due to the “conservative” leaning of the higher court.
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“The appellate court in Georgia overturned that trial court’s decision saying that Fani Willis could stay on the case. There was an appearance of impropriety that Fani Willis had engaged in this romantic relationship with a prosecutor she hired, Nathan Wade, and that the remedy, therefore, would just be that Nathan Wade had to leave the prosecutorial team,” Polisi said. “Now the appellate court said, ‘Uh uh,’ she and the entire office needs to be removed from this case because this appearance of impropriety really is too great for the public to stomach and that even though there wasn’t an actual conflict, that that appearance is enough to disqualify her.”
“Fani Willis is now taking this up to the Supreme Court in Georgia saying, look, even though that’s not the rule in Georgia that even though there is potentially the appearance of an impropriety, there’s no actual conflict for her office to move forward on the case,” she continued. “I don’t think she has a good chance of winning. It’s a pretty well-known conservative court and they would have to overturn the appellate court. So I don’t see it working out for her.”
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The Georgia Court of Appeals cited “an appearance of impropriety” in its decision to disqualify Willis, stating that the move was necessary “to restore public confidence in the integrity of these proceedings.”
A grand jury in August indicted Trump and 18 others on Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) charges for allegedly attempting to reverse Georgia’s 2020 election outcome.
Following a multi-day evidentiary hearing in March, Judge Scott McAfee found that Willis’ relationship with Nathan Wade created a “significant appearance of impropriety.” McAfee allowed Willis to remain on the case if Wade resigned, which he did.
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Trump co-defendant Michael Roman originally filed a motion in January 2024 revealing Willis’ relationship with Wade. The motion accused the district attorney of benefiting financially from awarding him a lucrative contract as they took vacations together using money earned from the special prosecutor’s position.
Former President George W. Bush Justice Department official John Yoo said in December that it is unlikely a different Georgia district attorney will take over Willis’ case.
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First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.