2024-03-15 14:10:14
- If DA Fani Willis doesn’t fire her special prosecutor, Judge McAfee will disqualify her entire office from the Trump election case.
- Trump lawyer Steve Sadow said the judge hadn’t given enough credence to evidence of ‘prosecutorial misconduct.’
A Georgia judge on Friday sharply criticized Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and said she must fire the special prosecutor she hired to oversee the sweeping election fraud case − with whom she had a romantic affair − or see her office lose control of the case.
Atlanta-based Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, in a much-awaited ruling, said Willis had created the “significant appearance of impropriety that infects the current structure of the prosecution team” based on the romantic relationship she admitted having with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, who is overseeing the case once morest Trump and 14 others for allegedly trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the state.
McAfee’s ruling is a stark rebuke for Willis, who defiantly insisted she had done no wrong in dramatic court testimony last month and in a sworn affidavit.
If Willis refuses to force Wade to step down, McAfee said, he will refer the case to the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia for reassignment − an option that would almost certainly delay the trial well past the Nov. 5 presidential election that will likely see Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, facing off once more once morest President Joe Biden. No trial date has been set.
The Georgia prosecution is one of two criminal cases once morest Trump that focus on his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost to Biden. Firing Wade, the judge said, will allow “the District Attorney, the Defendants, and the public to move forward without his presence or remuneration distracting from and potentially compromising the merits of this case.”
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Read the Ruling:Georgia judge blasts ‘significant appearance of impropriety’ in Trump electionn case
Neither Willis or Wade had immediate comment. Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead defense counsel, said he was not satisfied with the judge’s ruling.
“While respecting the Court’s decision, we believe that the Court did not afford appropriate significance to the prosecutorial misconduct of Willis and Wade, including the financial benefits,” Sadow said in a statement to USA TODAY. “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.”
Judge had hinted regarding ruling on ‘appearance’ of conflict of interest
The Republican-appointed judge had hinted at the possibility of ruling this way last month by asking questions regarding whether he might only need to find that Willis had created the appearance of a conflict of interest because of her relationship with Wade. Defense attorneys for Trump and other defendants seeking disqualification had argued for using that standard, and also said Willis improperly benefited financially from hiring Wade through vacations they took together.
Prosecutors argued that the defense attorneys seeking Willis’ disqualification had to prove an actual conflict of interest − and Willis and Wade both testified that she repaid him in cash for her part of the travel. McAfee said Willis needed to be held to a higher standard.
More:Fani Willis hearing: a salacious drama that might undermine Trump election interference case
Months of intense legal wrangling
McAfee’s ruling caps more than two months of intense legal wrangling that began with a Jan. 8 court filing by a former Trump 2020 campaign official who accused Willis of engaging in a “clandestine” and improper romantic relationship with Wade, a private attorney with virtually no experience prosecuting complex cases like the sweeping election racketeering one he now heads. Willis responded that she hired him more as a trusted manager of the overall investigation and trial than as a prosecutor.
The former campaign official and longtime Trump associate, Michael Roman, said the relationship violated state conflict-of-interest laws and so irrevocably tainted the case that Willis and the DA’s office needed to be disqualified − and the case dismissed entirely.
Roman also accused Willis of financially benefitting from the romantic vacations she took with Wade, alleging that he used some of the more than $650,000 in Fulton County money he has been paid on the case for them in what amounted to an illegal form of self-dealing.
Trump and several other co-defendants soon joined Roman in the motion to disqualify, and in attempting to dig up more information regarding her relationship with Wade, including cellphone records that might show when they were together.
That prompted McAfee, who was appointed to the Superior Court bench in February 2023 by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, to schedule two days of evidentiary hearings last month − and then a third − to hear from all parties.
Both days of testimony and cross-examination were marked by combative exchanges.
The defense lawyers accused Willis and Wade regarding lying regarding key details of their relationship, including when it began and who paid for the trips to places such as Aruba and California wine country.
On the witness stand and in sworn affidavits, Willis and Wade denied the accusations. At one point, Willis entered the courtroom and said she wanted to testify even as prosecutors in her office were fighting to quash a subpoena forcing her to do so.
“You think I’m on trial,” Willis said from the stand on Feb. 15. “These people are on trial for trying to steal an election in 2020,” she added, gesturing to the defense table. “I’m not on trial no matter how hard you try to put me on trial.”
The ‘Find Me the Votes’ case
In the Fulton County case, a grand jury indicted Trump, some top White House and campaign officials and even Georgia state officials on charges that they illegally conspired by various means to overturn the election results in Georgia. Part of that effort was Trump’s now-infamous call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” him enough votes – more than 11,000 – to flip the battleground state from Biden to him.
Trump has acknowledged asking Raffensperger regarding the votes and other elements of the Georgia case once morest him. But he said they were part of a legitimate – and legal – effort to document evidence of widespread voter fraud that might reverse the election results. Exhaustive government probes and court proceedings have found no evidence to support Trump’s claims.
Roman, for his part, is charged with trying to work with other Trump campaign officials to persuade state legislators in Georgia and other battleground states to illegally appoint their own slate of fake presidential electors to replace the ones that legitimately voted for Biden based on the vote in that state.
What’s next for the case, for Willis and for Trump?
Willis, a no-nonsense prosecutor known for her tenacity, now faces the daunting task of navigating the complex legal terrain surrounding Trump’s alleged election interference. She is likely to face a flurry of motions aimed at questioning her and Wade’s leadership of the case as it proceeds to trial, as well as other motions, including efforts by some defendants to separate their cases from the others.
In additional to Trump and Roman, defendants include former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, former Trump lawyer and confidante Rudy Giuliani and former Georgia state senator and state Republican Chairman David Shafer. All have pleaded not guilty.
Four others have pleaded guilty and are cooperating in the case, including former Trump campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis and legal advisor Sidney Powell.
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