A Georgia judge has ruled that District Attorney Fani Willis can continue to lead the investigation into Donald Trump’s attempts to undermine the state’s 2020 presidential election as long as a top deputy steps down. prosecution.
The ruling came during a hearing into the ongoing investigation into Willis’ romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor and her top deputy in the case, and the investigation into the case against Trump and 14 other 14-year-olds. A co-defendant’s extortion case took a dramatic turn.
“The Court therefore concludes that prosecution of this case cannot continue until the State chooses one of two options. The District Attorney may elect to resign along with her entire office and refer the prosecution to the Board of Prosecutors for reassignment, “Judge Scott McAfee, the judge in the case, wrote on Friday.
He added that Wade could also withdraw “to allow the district attorney, the defendants and the public to move forward without his presence or compensation distracting from or compromising the substance of the case.”
The decision averted disaster for Willis. An order removing her and her office from the case would mean the prosecution would be significantly delayed while being reassigned to another prosecutor in Georgia.
However, it still severely damaged her credibility, cast a scathing analysis of her actions and highlighted issues about her judgment that were exposed during multiple days of hearings. Trump and his allies are likely to grab those punches and continue to defend themselves in the case.
A spokesman for Willis did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At the heart of the issue is whether Willis has a conflict of interest in the case because of his relationship with Wade. Michael Roman, one of the 14 remaining defendants in the case, filed a motion in January arguing that Willis should be disqualified from handling the case because her relationship with Wade was not public at the time.
The two eventually admitted to their relationship but said it did not begin until 2022, when Wade was hired to work on the Trump case. Wade admitted that he paid for the pair’s vacations to places like Napa, California, and Aruba, but both he and Willis said she repaid him in cash.
McPhee offers an unsparing analysis of Willis’ behavior. He said the arrangement did not constitute an actual conflict of interest on the surface, which would at least be enough to warrant Wade’s dismissal.
He wrote that even though the relationship did not begin until after Wade was hired, Willis allowed “a regular and loose exchange of money between them without any precise or verifiable measure of reconciliation.”
“In the absence of confirmed financial carve-outs, it is possible that the District Attorney would benefit – albeit not materially – from a contract whose adjudication falls squarely within her purview and policing,” he wrote on Friday. He continued: “As the case progresses and looking forward, a reasonable public can easily wonder whether the financial dealings will continue to provide some form of benefit to the district attorney or even whether the romantic relationship has resumed.”
“In other words, an outsider could reasonably believe that the district attorney was not exercising independent professional judgment completely free from any prejudice. This unnecessary perception will persist as long as Wade continues to work on this case,” he added.
While no evidence was found that Willis personally benefited from the arrangement, McPhee harshly criticized her conduct.
“This finding in no way indicates that the court condoned this monumental lapse in judgment or the unprofessional manner in which the district attorney testified at the evidentiary hearing,” he wrote. “Georgia law does not allow for the mere fault of making a poor choice (even was a repeated choice) and there was an actual conflict.” He added that there were other bodies that could address her conduct, including the Georgia Legislature, the state bar association and even Fulton County voters. Willis is up for re-election this year.
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McPhee also rejected a request to disqualify Willis because she gave a speech at a historically black church in January. The district attorney said in his speech that the disqualification of Wade, who is also black, was racially motivated.
Trump’s attorney Steve Sadow said he disagreed with the ruling.
“We will continue to work to bring closure to this case, which should never have been filed in the first place, using all legal options available to us,” he said in a statement.
The hearing delved into the personal lives of Wade and Willis and featured dramatic testimony from Willis, in which she bluntly accused Roman’s lawyers of lying and trying to regain control of one of the most dangerous trials in the United States. .
It also muddied the case — turning a sensational prosecution of a criminal scheme to overturn the election into a salacious hearing about the district attorney’s love life.
McPhee also said Willis and Wade were dishonest when they testified — something Trump and his allies could use to undermine the district attorney’s credibility.
“The smell of lies remains,” he wrote. “Reasonable doubts about whether the district attorney and her hand-picked SADA leader made false statements regarding the timing of their relationship further substantiate the conclusion that misconduct occurred and that appropriate efforts were needed to correct that conduct.”
The defense attorney’s strongest testimony came from Willis’ former friend Robin Bryant-Yeartie, who said the relationship between Wade and Willis began before Wade was hired . No other witnesses corroborated her testimony.
The defense’s star witness is supposed to be Wade’s former law partner, Terrence Bradley. Bradley told Roman’s attorney he knew the relationship began before Wade was hired, but when he testified, he said he was just speculating. McPhee said he could not provide “any support” for Bradley’s testimony.
