Trump Georgia election case DA Fani Willis disqualified but indictment stands: appeals court

A Georgia appeals court on Thursday disqualified Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from overseeing the criminal election interference prosecution of President-elect Donald Trump and other defendants.

But the Court of Appeals let stand the indictment against the defendants, who are accused of crimes related to their efforts to overturn Trump’s loss in Georgia’s 2020 election to President Joe Biden.

The decision overturns a Fulton County Superior Court judge’s ruling that allowed Willis to remain on the case despite arguments by Trump’s attorneys that she should be disqualified due to the impropriety of her romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, the top prosecutor whom she had picked to lead the case.

The Court of Appeals in its decision said that the remedy offered by Judge Scott McAfee — which let Willis remain on the case if Wade withdrew from handling it — was improper.

“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 appeal court 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,” the court said.

“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.”

But the appeals court also wrote, “We affirm, however, the denial of the appellants’ motion to dismiss the indictment.”

The Georgia case is one of the two criminal cases that remain pending against Trump.

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