A state appeals court on Thursday removed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from the high-profile Georgia election interference case involving former President Donald Trump and more than a dozen other defendants. However, the court declined to dismiss the indictment, leaving the case in uncertainty.
The decision comes as the case, which alleges a scheme to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss in Georgia, has been largely stalled for months due to pretrial appeals.
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The ruling shifts responsibility for the case to the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, which must now appoint a new prosecutor to determine whether to continue pursuing the charges. The timeline for this transition could be delayed further if Willis decides to appeal the ruling to the Georgia Supreme Court.
Regardless of who ultimately leads the prosecution, legal experts suggest it is unlikely that the case against Trump can proceed while he serves as president over the next four years. However, the charges against 14 other defendants remain active.
In August 2023, a grand jury in Atlanta indicted Trump and 18 others, accusing them of engaging in a scheme to illegally overturn Trump’s narrow loss to Joe Biden in Georgia during the 2020 election.
Four of the defendants have since pleaded guilty in plea agreements, while Trump and the others have pleaded not guilty.
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Fani’s Case Derailed
The case was derailed earlier this year when one of the co-defendants, Michael Roman, a longtime GOP operative, accused Willis and a special prosecutor, Nathan Wade, of having an improper romantic relationship that began before Wade was hired to work on the election case in November 2021.
Roman claimed that Willis financially benefited from the relationship, as Wade allegedly paid for trips, hotel rooms, and travel expenses using money he received through his work as a special prosecutor.
Trump, Roman, and seven others sought to have Willis and her office removed from the case and the charges against them dismissed.
Wade and Willis both acknowledged they were romantically involved, but disputed claims that their relationship began before Wade’s hiring.
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In March, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee issued a ruling that rejected the effort to have Willis and her office kicked off the case, as long as Wade stepped aside. McAfee, however, was critical of Willis, saying that while he could not conclusively establish when Wade and Willis’ relationship became romantic, “an odor of mendacity remains.”
Following McAfee’s decision, Trump and the eight others were allowed to seek review of the ruling from the Georgia Court of Appeals. The appeals court agreed to take up the matter, granting Trump’s request to review the decision that allowed Willis to continue leading the prosecution.
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