Trump election case in Georgia, DA Fani Willis disqualified, indictment stands

TO Georgia Court of Appeals 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 left in place the indictment against the defendants, who are accused of crimes related to their efforts to overturn Trump’s defeat in the 2020 elections in Georgia against President Joe Biden.

The decision overturns a Fulton County Superior Court judge’s ruling that allowed Willis to remain in the case despite arguments by Trump’s lawyers that she should be disqualified because of the inappropriateness of her romantic relationship with Nathan Wade. the main prosecutor whom he had chosen to lead the case. case.

In its decision, the Court of Appeals said the remedy offered by Judge Scott McAfee, which allowed Willis to remain on the case if Wade withdrew from it, was inadequate.

“After carefully considering the trial court’s findings in its order, we conclude that it erred in not disqualifying Prosecutor Willis and her office,” the appeals court said.

“The trial court’s remedy to prevent a continuing appearance of wrongdoing did nothing to address the appearance of wrongdoing that existed at a time when Prosecutor Willis was exercising her broad pretrial discretion over who to prosecute and what charges to bring. “the court said. .

“While we recognize that an appearance of impropriety is generally not sufficient to support disqualification, this is the rare case in which disqualification is mandatory and no other remedy will be sufficient to restore public confidence in the integrity of these proceedings.”

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

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

The president-elect was convicted earlier this year in New York state court of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election. Trump has yet to been sentenced in that case.

The judge in that case on Monday rejected Trump’s request to dismiss the convictions and indictment over a claim of presidential immunity. Prosecutors in the case had used testimony and other evidence from former White House staffers, which Trump’s lawyers said contradicted a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling granting presidents presumptive criminal immunity for so-called official acts in the charge.

But Judge Juan Merchán is still considering other arguments that Trump’s lawyers have presented to dismiss the case.

After Trump’s election in November, federal prosecutors dismissed two criminal cases against him because of a Justice Department policy that prohibits the prosecution of sitting presidents.

In one of those cases, Trump was charged with crimes related to his efforts to overturn his loss in the 2020 national election. In the other, he was charged with crimes related to withholding classified government records after leaving the White House and with hiding them from federal officials when they sought their return.

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